Big Time Newcomer
by kissmelast
Summary: This is the story of Riley Nichols, newest member of Big Time Rush, and the adventures the four original boys get him in.
1. Big Time News

**Please leave reviews, but keep in mind: This is my first fan fiction ever, so be gentle, but still be constructive. Also, please warn me if the characters get a little too Mary Sue, I'm still learning this stuff. Enjoy!**

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><p>Kendall was lying by the amazing Palmwoods pool. He looked around. Next to him was one of his closest friends and fellow band member: James Diamond, who was trying his best to "Get his bronze on" which Kendall assumed meant to tan, but he could never be too sure when it came to James and his weird lingo. Another friend and band member was Logan Mitchell. He was sitting at a table near the pool looking at medical case studies. Even though they are becoming very successful as a singing group,<p>

Logan never forgot about his dream of becoming a doctor. Kendall respected that.

Just as Logan was about to open another book, he heard one of his least favorite words of all: "CANONBALLLLLLLL!" Just then, an excited boy wearing a helmet crashed into the pool and all of Logan's books were splashed and probably ruined from the over chlorinated water from the once peaceful pool beside him.

"Carlos! You ruined all my medical books!" Logan screamed at the boy in the pool wearing a helmet.

"Sorry dude, but you're kind of right next to a pool, what did you think was going to happen?" Carlos calmly responded.

"Ugh! I need new friends." Logan muttered as he stumbled back to the lobby carrying his sopping wet books.

Kendall, also sopping wet from the splash, turned to Carlos and gave him a high five as he stepped out of the pool and grabbed a towel, "That was probably the biggest splash you've done so far!"

"I know right?" Carlos responded excitedly, "But I feel really bad about Logan's books, that's like the third time that's happened."

"Nah, he'll be fine, he's read those things like twenty times," Kendall reassured Carlos. "Oh man! I think I messed up James' hair!" Carlos gasped while looking at the soaked boy behind Kendall.

"Run for the Hills! Wait, I think he fell asleep." Kendall said while poking James' face.

"Wow, he's a heavy sleeper." Carlos remarked. He had a small sense of relief until he noticed James' eyes opening.

"What happened? Why am I soaking wet?" James said, confused.

"Ummm... some lady...came in here...and poured water on you." Carlos muttered.

"What? Who was she?" James asked.

"No ones knows, we tried to stop her, but she had a tennis racket and was hitting people over the head with it. Good thing Carlos had his helmet on, he was trying to protect your hair, but the lady hit him over the head and dumped a huge bucket of water on you," Kendall said, "It was weird."

"Oh, well, thanks for looking out for me," James said, "I'm gonna go upstairs and dry off. If you see her again, tell her that she owes me $3.00 worth of Barracuda hairspray because it all washed out."

"You put three dollars worth of hairspray in your hair? Just to tan?" Kendall shockingly replied.

"Hey, part of my job is to look good ALL the time." James shouted as he swaggered back to their room.

Carlos and Kendall watched James get in the elevator, then Kendall turned to Carlos and said, "Nice cover, he totally believes it!"

"I know right?" Carlos replied, "We should join and improv group!"

"Definitely," Kendall said as he got a text message. It was from Kelly, "You guys are getting a new band member. Be at the studio by 10:00 tomorrow." the message said.

"Oh no..." Kendall whispered.

"What happened?" Carlos said, worried.

"I think one of us is going to be replaced."


	2. Big Time Realization

**I decided to put the second chapter up because I already wrote the first three while waiting for that weird two day waiting period to be over. Here it is! **

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><p>James and Kendall were sitting on the couch while Logan was pacing back and fourth in the living room while Carlos ate a corn dog in the kitchen.<p>

"How can you eat at a time like this?" James asked Carlos.

"It's always corn dog time." Carlos answered.

"Guys, we need to focus, okay, we have to be a united front when we see the new guy tomorrow." Kendal said.

"I just don't get why Gustavo wants to replace one of us. I mean, we're doing great. Who is gonna be replaced anyway?" Logan said.

"No one is because we're not gonna let them." Kendall said reassuringly.

"But what if they can't!" James lamented, "I'm gonna miss you Carlos. Say hi to all our old friends in Minnesota when you get there."

"What? What makes you think it's gonna be me?" Carlos said, offended.

"Dude, you're the shortest, they always get rid of the shortest first." James responded.

"Well, If anyone is going to be replaced, if should be YOU!" Carlos said, pointing at James with his corn dog, "You're the one who always talks about a solo career!"

"Guys! stop fighting!" Kendall yelled, "I know what we can do! We make sure this new guy leaves L.A. before he even has a chance to sing."

"How do we do that?" Logan asked.

"We show him how unwelcoming Hollywood can really get." Kendall said, smirking.

The boys rolled up to Gustavo's office. They all looked pretty worried, but had to shake that feeling when they started walking up the stairs. When they arrived to the recording studio, they noticed the supposed new guy. He had brown hair, blue eyes, was as tall as Carlos and was a little scrawny compared to the other boys.

"Dogs, I want you to meet the new pup, Riley Nichols," Gustavo said, not even looking up from his phone.

"Hi guys!" Riley said excitedly, "I'm so excited to work with you all! I'm a huge fan "Dude! What the hell? He's just as short as me!" Carlos screamed. James nudged him to calm down, they had to look as stoic and uncaring as possible.

"Ooookaaaay," Gustavo looked up from his phone, "everybody, in the sound booth, work on harmonies."

And so they did, making sure to periodically glare a Riley when Gustavo wasn't looking.

After a few hours, Gustavo sent them back to the Palmwoods, the walk downstairs was excruciating.

"So... you guys are staying at the Palmwoods too? I just moved in there this morning, it's pretty great, isn't it?" Riley said, trying to break the silence.

"..."

"Um, so... I'm really excited to join Big Time Rush, but I was worried you guys wouldn't like me. That's silly, right?" Riley said, trying to be reassured.

"..."

"Yeah..."

When they got outside, Logan got a taxi while James turned to Riley and said, "There's not enough room for five people, you'll have to get your own." and stepped into the cab.

"I hope he was just talking about the cab..." Riley thought while he rode back to the Palmwoods alone.

When arrived at the Palmwoods, he went straight up to his room. His room was very small, a little dirty, he could deal with that, but what he couldn't deal with was the giant hole in the wall. His mom tried to cover it up with a curtain, but birds would still find their way in. This is when he noticed his mom chasing a pigeon around the apartment with a broom.

"Oh, hey honey, I didn't see you there," She said nonchalantly.

"Hey, do you need me to help? I think that's the same one that was in here this morning, it left when I threw a tater tot out the window," he said while grabbing one of the extra tater tots from lunch and handing it to his mom.

"Oh thanks," she said while taking it and throwing it out the hole in the wall. Sure enough the bird went chasing after it. "So, how was your first day as a fancy new singer?" she asked while sitting at the wobbly dining table.

"It was okay, I don't think the other guys like me that much." he said as he sat down with her.

"Oh, I'm sure they'll warm up to you," she responded, "hey, why don't you go down to the pool and see if they're there."

"I guess so, but what if they ask why I won't get in the pool?" He asked, concerned.

"Just tell them about your scar, they'll probably find it funny," she answered.

"Okay," he muttered as he sulked into his room to change.

When he got down to the pool, he noticed the four boys he met earlier laying on beach chairs.

"Hey guys! This pool is pretty awesome!" he stated as he awkwardly walked up the them. Once Riley approached them, the four boys immediately walked away.

"Maybe they had somewhere to be..." Riley thought. He looked around the pool and noticed two girls sitting at a table and immediately recognized the blonde as Jo Taylor, one of the stars of "New Town High", he's seen some of her interviews and she seemed nice, maybe she can explain why the other guys are acting weird.

"Oh my god! You're Jo Taylor right?" he asked as he walked up to the two girls, "New Town High is my sister's favorite show! Can I get your autograph for her?" He then noticed the brunette sitting across from her and immediately recognized her, "You were in Merteens 4! Oh my god! That was my favorite movie of the series!" he said excitedly.

Jo turned to him and said, "Before you try hitting on us, you should know that our boyfriends are in Big Time Rush."

"And we're not going to talk to the guy trying to replace them." Camille said as they both got up and walked away.

"But... I wasn't... Hitting on you..." he said, confused. After noticing that everyone was glaring at him, he went up to his apartment to watch T.V.

Kendall looked at the scene from the window in the apartment he shared with his three best friends, his mom and his little sister. "Dude! Jo and Camille totally burned Riley!" he called from the window

"Really? I wonder what he was doing talking to them," Logan said while walking up to the window.

"It's great how close we've gotten to everyone at the Palmwoods," James remarked, "we wouldn't be able to pull this off if the entire place wasn't in on it." Carlos walked up next to the others and looked at Riley out the window.

"Aw, he looks really sad, don't you think we're being a little too mean?" he noted.

"Carlos, do you want one of us to be replaced by this idiot?" Kendall sharply answered.

"Well, no, but, he's just a kid trying to follow his dream, like we once were." Carlos said quietly.

Just then, James got a text from Gustavo: DOGS! MY OFFICE! NOW! DON'T BRING THE PUP

"Uh oh, Gustavo's mad about something, we better go,"

When the four boys showed up, Gustavo was furious, even Kelly seemed angry at them.

"What is your problem! I hand picked Riley because I knew you five would work well together, but you didn't even give him a chance!" Gustavo yelled.

"We're not gonna leave one of our own behind just because you got some shiny new guy to replace him!" Logan answered.

"Wait, what?" Kelly asked calmly, "What made you think we were replacing any of you?"

"You texted Kendall that you were!" James said.

"Umm, no," Kelly responded, "Kendall, read the text I sent you."

"Okay," Kendal said, "it says: 'You guys are getting a new band member. Be at the studio by 10:00 tomorrow.'" Just then, everyone turned to Kendall. "Sorry guys," he said," I kind of freaked out, didn't I? But why would you add a new member if you weren't replacing anyone?"

"The public identifies more with bands with an odd number of singers. At least that's what Griffin told me. It was either bring in a new one or get rid of one" Gustavo answered.

"Ooooh" the boys all said in unison.

"Now you go apologize to that poor boy before he decides to quit," Kelley ordered.

The four boys slowly walked up to Riley's door.

"You knock," Logan told Carlos.

"Hell no! James, you do it!" Carlos responded.

"No way. Kendall, you're the one that got us into this mess, you knock on the door." James said.

"Fine! But this isn't all MY fault!" Kendal said while he walked closer to the door. He slowly knocked three times before he heard a subtle "Come in" from Riley.

The boys cautiously walked through the door and noticed that the room looked exactly like their apartment used to look. Stains on the floor, holes in the wall and the same khaki paint job. They noticed Riley sitting in the dark watching a dateline special on psychics. He turned around and looked surprised, "Oh, hey guys, sorry, I thought you were animal control," he said while the other boys noticed the turkey vulture tearing up the kitchen.

"Holy crap!" Logan screamed as he jumped, "How did that get in here?"

"There's a giant hole in the wall," Riley calmly explained.

"That's weird," Kendall remarked, "but we're here to apologize for the way we treated you. We thought you were going to replace one of us, so we wanted you to leave, but then Gustavo explained that you weren't going to replace anyone and that we were just getting a new band member, and that's good, because you seem like a really cool person and what I'm really asking is if we could just start over and you could forget about how mean we were to you." he said all in one breath.

"Huh? I only got about half of that," Riley said.

"What he meant to say was that we shouldn't have treated you the way we did and we're sorry," James said.

"Oh... well, I guess I forgive you, and I would never try to replace a member. If I knew that that was what they were gonna do, I never would have agreed to Gustavo's offer," Riley told them, "but why does everyone else at the Palmwoods hate me?"

"We... told them too," Logan replied looking at his shoes.

"It wasn't cool, we know, but we'll straighten everything out tomorrow," Carlos reassured, "but for now, do you want to come up to our apartment until they get rid of that giant bird thing? We have a lot of video games involving guns and violence."

For a moment, Riley forgot about the bird, then he heard it screech and knock over the knife block. "Yeah, I'll come chill with you," he said, fearing for how smart the bird actually was.


	3. Big Time Sister

**Hey, so these first three came out pretty fast, but they'll probably slow down after this. Please tell me what you think, even if you don't like it, I really need some constructive criticism up in here. Thanks for reading, by the way!**

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><p>It's been two weeks since Riley joined the band, and since the four original members stopped hating him, everything has been going pretty well for Riley. The hole in his apartment was finally fixed, he straightened things out with Jo and Camille, Riley finally felt accepted in Hollywood, and that felt good. Now he was sitting by the pool while his fellow band members had splash wars nearby. And even better, the rest of his family was coming to visit and bring more of his things from home, even though things were looking up, he still missed his family and his north Californian home.<p>

"Hey," Kendall asked Riley, "when is your family coming again?"

"Tomorrow at noon." Riley answered.

"Dude, we'll be recording then," James reminded Riley.

"I know, I talked to Gustavo yesterday and he said I could leave early to see them because they're only staying for and hour and a half." Riley responded.

"Aww, so we won't get to meet them?" Carlos asked, disappointed.

"Probably not," Riley said.

"Hey Riley," Logan curiously said, "why do you never get in the pool? You've been here two weeks, and you always either sit around it, or just put your feet in."

"Ummm... I'm allergic to water?" Riley said unconvincingly. The four boys looked at him disbelievingly. Riley started spouting answers in the hopes that they would believe at least one,

"Okay, I can't swim, chlorine is against my religion, people pee in pools, I have an inner ear infection, I just ate." No one bought it.

"C'mon, what's the real reason?" Kendall asked.

Riley sighed, "The real reason is that I don't like taking my shirt off..."

"Is it because you're so scrawny?" James asked, "Because I can fix that in six weeks with my patented James Diamond work out routine."

"No it's not," Riley said, slightly offended, "when I was eight, this older kid lived across the street. He was an asshole, but because he was ten whole years old and knew more about cars and rocket ships and space than I did, I though he was a god. Anyways, I was playing outside by myself when the asshole ran to me holding fireworks and he wanted to set them off with me. I knew it was a bad idea, but he was so cool, I wanted him to think I was so cool too! The problem was, being only ten years old, he didn't pay attention to the safety warnings and set a firework off pointed right at me. They were only the kind of fireworks that you buy in those sketchy booths in abandoned parking lots, so I didn't have any fatal injuries or anything, but it did hurt like a biznitch, and when it finally fully healed, it scarred in the shape of..." he stopped.

"The shape of what?" the four other boys screamed together.

"The shape of... the male organ of love..." Riley muttered, not making any eye contact.

"A PENIS!" James screamed a little too loudly, "You have a scar on your torso in the shape of a penis!"

"Shhhhhhhhhhh! People can hear you!" Riley loudly whispered.

"Oh man! That's so hilarious!" Kendall said, "You have to let us see it!" All the other boys agreed.

"Okay, so let me get this straight. You want me to show you my penis?" Riley said.

"Oh, I guess that does sound wrong," Carlos said, Riley nodded.

"But why are you so insecure about it?" Logan asked while trying to suppress laughter.

"I mean, that sounds more funny than embarrassing."

"Well, usually I'm not that insecure about it, but Big Time Rush is a very kid friendly band, it would kind of ruin its image if anyone saw a giant penis on me," the other boys giggled. Riley thought for a minute, "That might have come out a little wrong, but there's really no way for us to have this conversation without sounding like raging homosexuals," he said, defending himself.

"Is it really that bad? Maybe no one would notice," Logan said.

"Yeah, it's like, really detailed," Riley said quietly, "with veins popping out and everything, trust me, no one wants to see it, it's gross."

"Well, you could always get it removed," Kendall offered, "I'm sure there's some kind of laser that gets rid of penis shaped scars." The boys giggled again.

"I've thought about it, but it's really expensive," Riley answered, ignoring the giggles.

"Well, maybe if we get successful enough, and the advertising department wants some shirtless beach photoshoot, you might be able to get it removed," Carlos said. This was the first time anyone had mentioned the fact that Riley was part of the band. Riley knew he would never be as close as the four other guys were, but he was getting closer.

"Yeah, maybe."

The next day, they boys re-recorded their songs, "Halfway There" and "Boyfriend" with small parts given to Riley. Riley hadn't had any huge parts in any of the songs, but he was okay with that. The last thing he wanted was the other four to think he was trying to take over or anything. Plus, he still needed a little more vocal coaching before he could tackle the bigger parts.

Before he knew it, it was almost noon and Gustavo let him leave early.

"It's too bad we won't get to meet Riley's family," Logan said.

"Do we even know anything about his family?" Carlos asked.

"We know his mom," James offered.

"Well, Jo told me that he has a sister who loves New Town High," Kendall said

"And his dad takes business trips to L.A. every once and a while, that's why they're here now." James added.

"And that's really it," Logan realized.

After finally finishing recording, three of the exhausted boys went up to their room to watch T.V. and play video games, but Carlos stayed behind. He had a new pick up line and wanted to try it on the Jennifers, but before he could find them, he heard someone scream, "Give me my soda, you dirty bitch!" He turned around to find the source of the profanity, and saw girl ramming herself up against the soda machine in the lobby. She had brown, curly hair, cut just above her shoulders and brown eyes and she looked oddly familiar. Carlos walked up to her and asked her what's wrong.

"Ugh! This day! I've had the worst day in the history of bad days and all I want is a fricken DC, but this damn machine sent from hell won't let he have the ONE THING that'll make me happy right now!" she yelled at the machine as if it cared about her day.

"DC?" Carlos questioned.

"It means Diet Coke," she snapped while looking up at him. Once she saw Carlos, she got strangely nervous.

"Um, I'm sorry, I have to go, I'll just get one on the drive home," she stuttered.

"No, I found this combination that makes the machine spit out free sodas," Carlos said while he opened a number pad on the side and punched in a long combination of numbers. When he finished, sure enough, a Diet Coke fell out of the machine. Carlos picked it up and handed it to the angry girl.

"Thank you so much!" she said, "but I really have to go."

"Wait!" Carlos exclaimed, "You have to at least tell me your name."

"It's Harper," she said.

"Hi Harper! I'm Carlos! What are you doing here? Did you just move here?" Carlos asked.

"No, I just came to... visit my brother," she explained.

"Wait, your brother isn't, by any chance, Riley Nichols, is he?" Carlos asked.

"Yes he is, how did you know?" she said, cautiously.

"I work with him, and he mentioned his family was visiting today." Carlos answered.

"Oh, you must be part of Big Time Rush! I knew you looked familiar!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, and you and your brother look a lot alike, and you must be very close in age." Carlos said.

"Well, um, we're twins," she said, "Yeah, twins."

"I knew Riley had a sister, but he didn't say anything about a twin," Carlos mentioned.

"Well, he doesn't really like to talk about having a twin, don't get me wrong, we're very close and all, but he doesn't like to be compared to me simply because we have the same birthdate, and I don't really like it either," she explained.

"Oh, well, that makes sense," he said as as Harper frantically walked away.

"Well, bye," she said, "I really need to go."

"Bye!" he called.

"By the way, nice helmet!" she called while walking away.

Carlos walked upstairs and into his apartment. James and Kendall were playing video games while Logan read at the dining table.

"Hey guys!" Carlos said, excited to share the news, "I met Riley's sister! In fact, she's his twin!"

"Dude, he didn't tell us he had a twin!" Kendall remarked.

"Is she hot?" James said.

"James!" Logan scolded, "It doesn't matter if a girl's hot or not."

"Just answer the question," James said to Carlos.

"Well, she was pretty cute, I guess," Carlos answered.

"Dude, who knew Riley's been hiding a hot twin from us," James said, sounding slightly offended.

"He probably wanted to keep her away from people like you," Kendall told James.

"Whatever, what is she like, anyways?" James asked.

"Well, her name is Harper, she likes Diet Coke, she calls machines dirty bitches, she liked my helmet... um, that's about it, she was in a huge hurry to go," Carlos said.

"Did you AT LEAST put the moves on her?" James asked.

"...No, I don't have 'the moves' I don't even know what 'the moves' are," Carlos answered.

" Did you learn nothing from my class on the moves?" James yelled, "Whatever, we can still salvage this, what's her number?"

"I didn't get her number," Carlos said.

"WHAT?" James yelled as he stood up.

"Dude, calm down, not every guy feels the need to get a girl's number," Logan said.

James calmed down, "Okay, fine, but Carlos, I expect you in my class tomorrow morning, we're gonna fix you."

"I didn't think I was broken..." Carlos said. Just then, Riley walked in and everyone looked at him.

"What?" he said, worried.

"Carlos tells me you have a sister," James said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Yes I do..." Riley said, even more worried.

"How do you feel about giving me her number so I can turn on some of the Diamond charm?" James asked, combing his hair.

"No way, none of you get to meet her, stop even thinking about her!" he yelled.

"Dude, calm down. What's your problem?" Kendall asked.

"I know teenage boys!" Riley said, "and they only have ONE THING on their mind. And I'm not gonna let my baby sister get harassed by any of you!"

"Wait, Harper told me you two were twins," Carlos interrupted.

"Oh, well, yeah, but I was born first, which makes me older," Riley explained.

"Ugh! You all are ruining my game!" James yelled as he threw a tantrum and disappeared into his room.

"Okay then, but seriously guys, paws off." Riley said, pointing at each of them before walking out the door while still maintaining eye contact. Once in the hallway he breathed a sigh of relief, "I hope they leave it alone," he thought to himself.

"Why is he so protective of her?" Logan asked.

"I guess it'd be like what I'd do if some sleazy player like James tried to hit on Katie," Kendall said, "it's just an instinct all brothers have."

"Well, that's too bad," Carlos said, obviously disappointed, "Harper was cool, and pretty cute." Suddenly, the two other boys in the room looked up him and smirked.

"What?" Carlos asked, surprised, "What? No, guys, shut up. It's not like that," the boys still stared,"she likes my helmet, no girl has ever liked my helmet." they continued to smile.

"You all suck." Carlos said as he walked out of the apartment.

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><p><strong>I'm not sure if I like how Harper turned out. I didn't want her to be super cutesy girly, so I gave her a bit of a potty mouth and a temper, but that kind of makes her unapproachable. She won't come back for a while though, but still tell me what you think.<strong>


	4. Big Time Performance Part 1

**I've decided to put this story in two parts because a lot is happening and it would be too long in one chapter.**

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><p>Friday:<p>

Riley was nervous. This was the first day he was going to prepare for live performances. Gustavo called him the day before saying that he needed to learn all the dance moves before their next performance in a week. Up until now, he had just worked on singing and re-recording old songs. The other four had already performed plenty of times, compared to them, he was going to look like an idiot. He had already studied up on the others' stage presences from old videos and seeing them live in concert. Although he was a part of the band for two weeks, he won't be introduced to the public until his first performance, so he got a chance to watch them from backstage when they did a small concert close by for a charity. They always seemed so relaxed up there, Riley didn't think he could pull that off.

He showed up at the studio at 7:00 in the morning. When he got there, Kelley showed him into a huge room with a stage with mannequins, instruments and a strange man with a shiny hoodie and a mullet.

"This is Mr. X," Kelley said, "he's Big Time Rush's choreographer, he's going to teach you the basic moves to all the songs, then around noon, the rest of the boys will come and learn the new choreography we had to make to account for five people."

"Mr. X? Is that your real name?" Riley asked.

"Mr. X doesn't have to X-plain himself to you!" Mr. X replied.

"Okay then," Riley said, slightly scared, "let's get started."

Riley was okay at dancing, he picked up some moves easier than others, but by the time the others showed up, he could pretend to keep up with them for a few of the songs.

After the other guys mastered the slightly changed dance moves, Gustavo walked in.

"Dogs! Go home and practice that some more. Also, prepare what you'll say at your interview Monday," Gustavo told them. Riley wasn't paying attention because he assumed he wasn't going to be in the interview.

"Oh, and Pup," Gustavo said turning to Riley who was still on the stage while the others gathered their things, "you'll be interviewed too, so practice not saying anything dumb."

"What?" Riley screamed, "You said I won't be introduced until the concert!"

"We want the fans to know a little bit about you before they see you perform, it will give you a higher approval rating with BTR's more loyal fans," Gustavo replied, "now, stop thinking about that, and get back to 'Worldwide'" Gustavo left the room.

After a few more hours of practicing, Mr. X finally let Riley go back to the Palmwoods.

"Wow, man, I did not expect it to be that hard," Riley said to Logan and Kendall in the lobby.

"Yeah, I remember when we had to prepare for concerts, it was rough," Logan said.

"I'm pretty sure the worst is over though," Riley said, "I have most of the dance moves down now."

"Yeah, it's probably over," Kendall said while Logan snickered.

Saturday:

Riley swaggered into the room with the stage. There, Gustavo and Mr. X told him to do the choreography to every song Big Time Rush has ever done. He was pretty good, but needed some more practice. For the first hour, Mr. X reviewed the moves with him until he got them almost perfect. Around noon, James, Carlos, Kendall and Logan walked in.

"You haven't even brought in the mosh pit?" Logan asked, surprised.

"Not yet, but soon," Gustavo answered.

"What?" Riley said from the stage.

"Nothing. Okay Riley, you've been getting cocky," Gustavo said, "now you need to do those moves while singing."

"No problem!" Riley confidently said, "I got this."

The entire band climbed on the stage. Their first song was "Halfway There" and even though Riley was usually in the back, he seemed to mess up everyone else. He ran James into the drum set, pushed Logan off the stage, gave Carlos a black eye and gave Kendall a bloody nose.

"Okay, Riley," Gustavo said, "try to NOT be an embarrassment to humanity this time."

Riley gave Gustavo and awkward thumbs up. They tried again, Riley may have broken his pinky finger, they tried again, no one was seriously injured, they tried again, it was hard to tell that Riley had no idea what he was doing, they tried one more time, it was close to acceptable.

"Okay, dogs, go home," Gustavo called to the seasoned veterans on stage, "pup, that last one was okay, but we need amazing, we'll keep trying until we get that."

After practicing and practicing the same routines until 7:00, Gustavo finally let Riley leave.

"Awesome! I'm soo hungry!" Riley said, relieved as he walked out the door.

"Wait," Gustavo called, "take this," he said while throwing a microphone at him.

"What's this for?"

"Singing into while you run to the Palmwoods."

"I have to RUN back?"

"Yes, now go," Gustavo said while pushing Riley out the door.

When Riley finally got to the Palmwoods lobby, he fell to the ground. Just as he started to see straight, the Jennifers walked by and looked down at him.

"You're sweaty and gross," the blonde Jennifer told him.

"I'm...aware...of...that," Riley said in between gasps.

"None of us are going to date you," the brunette Jennifer said.

"I'll...try...to...live...with...that,"

"I mean, look at how gross you are," the curly haired Jennifer said.

"Do...I...even...know...you?"

"No," they all said in unison, "but you wish you did," they snapped and walked away in slow motion. Before Riley had time to process what just happened, someone handed him a water bottle.

"Thanks," he said without even looking at who it was.

"I remember when Gustavo made the other guys prepare for their first concert, it was brutal on them," the mystery person said. Riley finally gathered the strength to turn around and saw the blonde star of New Town High.

"Oh hey, Jo Taylor!" Riley said awkwardly.

"You can just call me Jo," she said,

"Oh, sorry, I just so used to not knowing you and only knowing of you," Riley said, "by the way, do you know who those girls were? And most importantly, were they real?"

"Those are the Jennifers, they have the same name and can all sing act and dance," Jo answered, "they can be a little mean. I'm surprised you haven't met them before, they usually make sure everyone knows who they are and that they will never date you."

"Well, I usually spend most of my time in my room,"Riley said.

"Why is that? Kendall always complains about how no one really knows you," Jo asked.

"Umm, I guess I'm just shy?" Riley weakly explained, "What is there to know about me anyway?"

"I don't know, where you're from."

"A small town in northern California."

"If you have any siblings."

"A twin sister named Harper."

"What you like to do."

"Read, watch T.V., play video games, normal guy stuff."

"If you have a girlfriend."

"No. Anything else you want to know?" Riley asked, "Because there's really not anything interesting about me."

"I guess the guys just wished you wouldn't close off to them so much," Jo said.

"Well, I'll try to talk to them more, but I'm kind of super awkward," Riley said.

"Well, you're not awkward now," Jo said.

"That's because I'm a lot better at talking to girls as friends than guys," he said, "it's just how I've been all my life."

"I see," she said, "well, why don't you go upstairs and go to sleep."

"I will," he called as she walked away. Once he was alone in the lobby, he realized his legs didn't work. the preceded to crawl into the elevator and make his way to his room and fell asleep.

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><p><strong>Please tell me what you think. I don't want to be a review whore, but I need to know if I'm doing this whole fanfiction thing right.<strong>


	5. Big Time Performance Part 2

**This is actually going to be in three parts, I just felt that this was getting too long and it was time to publish it. I hope you enjoy!**

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><p>Sunday:<p>

Riley woke up incredibly sore, but he still got dressed and went to Roque Records. The first hour was just rehearsing the dances and songs over and over again, but after a while, Gustavo walked in. "Riley, now you need to learn about how to deal with fans on stage," Gustavo said, "for this, I brought celebrity heartthrob, Dak Zevon."

Just then, one of the most famous teens in America walked in. Riley screamed and freaked out.

"Calm yourself," Gustavo said.

"Sorry, I'm calm... I'm calm," Riley said while calming down.

"Now," Dak Zevon said, "you first need to learn proper fan interaction," while a couple dozen screaming people in t-shirts saying "Mosh Pit" ran to the front of the stage and reached for Riley. Dak showed him the proper way to high five them, Riley fell in and lost his shoelaces.

"That was wrong," Dak responded. For the rest of the day, Dak Zevon taught him all the techniques to dealing with screaming fans. He ended up with a bloody nose, quite a few bruises and ripped clothes.

"Okay," Gustavo said while he and Kelly walked into the room, "since you have your first interview tomorrow, we need to teach you how not to embarrass yourself, the band and most importantly, me. Number one: you don't have an opinion on anything unless it's your favorite color or something childish like that. Controversial subjects don't exist in your mind, okay?"

"Got it," Riley said.

"Second: keep your hand to your sides, we can't have you fidgeting like a weirdo."

"Mhm"

"Third, you and the other dogs are great friends and you hang out together all the time."

"What? But We don't really talk that much, they all kind of seem like an exclusive group that I'm not a part of."

"Yes, but the public has to think that you all love each other and are best friends."

"Okay then," Riley said, not that disturbed that he was going to lie on national T.V.

"I didn't tell you this earlier because I knew you would freak out," Gustavo said, "but you will be giving a short, thirty second performance of 'Halfway There'"

"WHAT? I'M NOT PREPARED! YOU SAID THE CONCERT ON FRIDAY WOULD BE MY FIRST PERFORMANCE!" Riley screamed, outraged.

"Well, it's not like a real performance," Kelly said, trying to calm him down, "it's only thirty seconds and there will only be a really small studio audience."

"But it's live T.V.!" Riley responded, "I'm gonna mess up in front of the entire world!"

"No you won't," Mr. X said, "'Halfway There' is your best song, we've all trained you well, you'll be fine."

"Yeah, you've got your stage swagger down," Dak Zevon said.

"And your vocals are fine," Gustavo told him, "it'll be great."

Riley started to calm down and look forward to his interview tomorrow.

"As long as you don't pass out," Gustavo continued, "that happens a lot with pups like you."

Riley wasn't as calm anymore. He frowned, put his head down, and sulked home.

Monday:

Today was the day of the big interview. Riley was nervous. The talk show started at 7:00 am and the studio wanted Big Time Rush there by 6:00, so Riley woke up at 5:00, got ready, and headed down to the boys' apartment. He knocked on the door, no answer, knocked again, no answer, he tried to open the door, but it was locked. Riley looked at his watch, it was 5:20, they had to leave by 5:30 to get there on time. He banged on the door screaming, "Hey guys! Open the door! We can't be late!" Just then, a groggy Logan swung the door open and saw Riley wearing dark jeans, a button up shirt and skinny hipster tie with his hair combed perfectly. Logan was wearing pajama pants with dinosaurs on them and a dirty gray t-shirt with hair pointing in all directions.

"Dude! What are you doing? We have to leave in ten minutes!" Riley said, shocked that Logan wasn't ready.

"It's like, 5:20, what are you doing up this early?" Logan responded, trying to understand what was happening.

"We have an interview today, remember?" Riley answered.

"Oh yeah," Logan said, annoyed, "Okay, we'll be ready in five minutes, come on in."

Riley walked in as Kendall stumbled out of his room.

"What is going on?" Kendall asked, "Riley, what are you doing here?"

"Remember that interview we have today?" Logan answered.

"Oh yeah..." Kendall said as he poured himself a bowl of cereal. By 5:25, all the boys had each stumbled out of their rooms. They each slowly grabbed their clothes and sulked out of the apartment.

"How can you be up so early?" Carlos asked Riley.

"It helps if you didn't sleep at all the night before," Riley answered, "I was too nervous about this interview and performance."

"Well, don't be," James said as they stepped into the limo that was waiting for them, "for the interview, just do what we do, they'll probably ask you a few questions, but it will mostly be about when our next album is coming out, and we can handle those. And for the performance, we've seen you do this routine a million times, you have it down."

"Thanks," Riley said, slightly reassured.

"Yeah," Carlos said, "But how embarrassing would it be if you totally failed the interview and fell down during the performance? It would probably be viral on YouTube by this afternoon!"

"Carlos!" Kendall sternly yelled as he wacked the back of Carlos's head.

"What?" Carlos asked, rubbing his head, "He'll be fine! Riley, you'll be fine."

Riley was less confident than ever and was clutching his knees all the way to the T.V. station.

When they arrived at the studio, a nice blonde lady led them into the green room where there was an endless supply of delicious snacks.

"CORN DOGS!" Carlos yelled as he ran toward the snack table.

"It's like, 6:00 in the morning," James mumbled.

"As I told you before, it's always corn dog time," Carlos answered in a very serious tone.

"Guys, we need to do a sound check," the nice blonde lady said. The five boys shuffled out of the green room and made their way to the stage.

"This is your chance to prove to yourself that you won't mess up," Kendall said to a worried Riley.

"I guess so," Riley meekly responded. The music started they did the first verse, the chorus, then the bridge and the chorus again. Riley didn't mess up at all.

"See, Riley," Logan said as they walked back to the green room, "you were great."

"Yeah but I wasn't in front of a studio full of people and on camera for the whole world to see."

Before they knew it, it was time for them to do the interview. They walked to the side of the stage where the blonde lady was.

"Okay, so you four are going to go on first," she whispered while pointing at Logan, James, Carlos and Kendall, "And then you are going to be called on a little later," now pointing to Riley.

"What? I have to go on by myself?" Riley panicked, "Oh man. I'm gonna trip. I'm gonna trip so hard. The entire city of L.A. is going to fall down due to the domino effect cause by my trip!"

"No you wont!" the four boys whisper-yelled at him right before the host of the show yelled, "And now here comes Big Time Rush!" to the cheering audience. Logan, James, Carlos and Kendall casually walked on the stage, smiling and waving to the audience. Riley took notes in his head. They plopped down on the couch and the host asked them various generic questions until she brought up their new member.

"So, word on the street is that you have a new member. Is that true?"

"Yeah," Kendall said.

"His name's Riley Nichols," Carlos continued.

"Well then," the host said, "lets bring him out then. Riley, come on out here!"

Riley couldn't move, he wanted to, but he was paralyzed with fear. It wasn't until the blonde lady pushed him before he could take a step, unfortunately, he almost fell face first on the stage, but moved his foot just in time to catch his fall. He regained his composure and walked toward the couch awkwardly smiling and waving to the audience. He sat down at the end of the couch next to Carlos and the host asked him, "So Riley, tell me about yourself."

"Well, my name is Riley Nichols, but you already know that," he stuttered, "I'm from a small town in northern California. I like music, video games, reading, so on."

"So, how did you become a part of Big Time Rush?"

"Umm, well, their manager was holding auditions, and I was in the area and thought it would be fun to be in a singing group, so I auditioned, and got the job!"

"And how did the guys react when you met them?"

Riley paused for a second and glanced at the four other guys sitting on the couch with them, "They were great, I heard they were a little iffy about having a new member, but when we all met, we instantly clicked, and now we're bros!" The other four boys looked relieved.

"Great! We're gonna go to some commercials now," the host said, "but when we get back, you'll see a live performance from Big Time Rush with their brand new member, Riley Nichols!" The audience cheered and the cameras went on stand by.

"Dude!" James said to Riley, "That was great!" All the other boys agreed.

"Really?" Riley asked, "I wasn't really paying attention to what I was saying because I had to focus on not throwing up the entire time. And now comes the even harder part!"

In two minutes, the cameras turned back on, the crowd started cheering again, Big Time Rush got into position on the stage, and the host yelled, "Give it up for Big Time Rush!" All the cameras pointed toward them, Riley was blinded by the bright stage lights, he felt overwhelmed from everything that was happening. He started dancing, singing and counted down the seconds until it was over. When the lights went back down, the crowed was cheering louder than ever.

"Was I okay?" Riley asked Logan, who was right next to him by the end of the song, "I kind of blacked out halfway through."

"Yeah, man, you were fine, the crowd loves us," Logan responded.

When the show ended, the boys walked off stage and headed for the limo waiting for them. That was the longest thirty seconds of Riley's life. When they got back to the Palmwoods, Riley got a text from Gustavo: "Good job, as a reward, no boot camp today."

"Hey, I don't have to practice today!" Riley told the other four boys as he stepped out of the limo.

"Well then, you should come hang out with us in our room," James said. They all really wished they could get to know Riley better, but he was always either sleeping or working with Gustavo.

"Sure!" Riley nervously agreed, remembering what Jo said.

On their way to the apartment, they ran into Jo and Camille.

"We saw you guys this morning," Camille said while hugging Logan.

"Yeah, you were really great," Jo said, "And Riley, I could hardly tell that you were about to throw up."

"That's what I was going for," Riley awkwardly responded, "not throwing up."

They all walked up to the colorful apartment. Riley was always jealous that they got such a cool apartment while he was stuck in a hellhole. James and Carlos grabbed a pie and played violent video games while Kendall, Jo, Logan, Camille and Riley sat down at the table.

"So how did it feel performing?" Logan asked Riley.

"What do you mean?" Riley responded.

"Did you feel uncomfortable, excited, happy, dizzy, out of place?" Kendall clarified.

"Yes, incredibly, yes, a little, not really," Riley answered.

"Do you think you'll be up for the concert?" Camille asked.

"I don't even want to think about it right now," Riley said, putting his head on the table, "I could barely handle thirty seconds! How am I supposed to get through a whole concert on Friday?"

"I know what would help you a little," Kendall said as he grabbed his laptop, "people are probably already writing about you online, let's see what they think of you."

"They're probably gonna hate me," Riley said, his head still on the table.

"No they won't," Jo said as Kendall typed "Riley Nichols" into the Google searchbar.

"Okay, well, BTRluvrrrr23 thinks you're 'soooo totally hawtttttt!'" Kendall said looking at his computer.

"But misterswagg thinks you look like a girl," Jo said. Riley looked concerned.

"That's okay, James looks like a girl too," Logan said,

"What?" James called from the living room, only hearing his name.

"Nothing," Logan called back, "What else does it say?"

"Hmm, dwn2earth thinks you looked really cute stumbling on stage," Kendall continued.

"At least that stumble wasn't a complete failure," Riley commented.

"Hey, there's already a username called rileyluver," Camille said looking over Kendall's shoulder, "she thinks you should have had a solo."

"Wow, they really like me!" Riley said, jumping up and down.

"Not all of them," Logan said, "mrskendallknight54 thinks you'll never measure up to Kendall's... 'sexy-fine hawtness' and you should just give up now."

"Really?" Kendall responded, getting cocky, "She's right, no one can measure up to my sexy-fine hawtness." Jo smacked him upside the head.

"Hey," Riley said, grabbing the laptop, "did you know that a lot of people write little stories about you guys? They're called 'Fan Fictions' and there's already one about me and Logan!" Logan looked up an ran to the computer.

"It says it has 'slash'. What do you think that is?" Riley asked no one in particular.

"Maybe you two are ninja assassins," Carlos said while slashing zombies in half in his video game, "and you slash people in half."

"That sounds cool." Logan said approvingly.

"Pretty badass," Riley said as he and Logan leaned into the computer. As they read, their faces went from interested, to confused, to horrified, until they finally both screamed and threw the computer across the table.

"Guys! Be careful with my laptop!" Kendall yelled.

"Cannot unread!" Riley screamed in agony while holding his head in his hands.

"I feel so dirty!" Logan yelled as he clutched his knees.

"C'mon, it couldn't be that bad," Camille said as she sat down with Kendall and Jo and read what had caused the two boys in front of them such pain. When they finished reading, Camille giggled and Jo looked worried.

"Weeeeelll," Kendall said, closing the window and clearing history so he would never come across it again, "now we know what slash means."

"What's going on over there?" James and Carlos called.

"Nothing!" they all answered.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm sorry for saying that James looks like a girl, but, I mean, come on, those eyelashes. I've also always wondered how BTR feels about slash, and decided to give them a reaction to it.<strong>


	6. Big Time Performance Part 3

**Thanks for the reviews guys! I was worried no one would like it because there wasn't any slash or depressing topics.**

**So here's the last part of Big Time Performance: I hope you like it!**

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><p>Tuesday:<p>

"You did a great job yesterday!," Kelly told Riley as he walked into the rehearsal room, "Didn't he, Gustavo?"

"Yeah," Gustavo said begrudgingly, "you didn't embarrass me."

"Thanks guys!" Riley said, ignoring Gustavo's tone, "What are we gonna do today?"

"You're just going to practice and practice until the concert," Kelly answered, "we won't give you anything new to do."

"Great," Riley said, "I'm sick of all the surprises."

And until Friday, Riley showed up at 7:00 every morning, practiced by himself until 12:00, then the other members would show up, they would all practice until 4:00, then Riley would practice more by himself until 7:00 pm and go back to the Palmwoods. It was nice, Riley liked routine, it was the one thing stable in this crazy town. Until Thursday night, that is.

"Okay Riley," Gustavo said at the end of the day, "tomorrow you need to be at the concert hall with the other dogs by 8:00, you'll go on stage at noon, and it should be over by 3:00, then you'll have a meet and greet. You'll be fine, you're more than prepared for this."

"I guess so," Riley said. He got to his apartment and was too tired to change his clothes and just fell on his bed and fell asleep.

The next morning, Riley woke up to the sound of four eager boys pounding on his door.

"Open up!" Carlos yelled, "We gotta go!"

Riley got out of bed and panicked, "Oh damn! did I oversleep? Did I miss the concert? Am I being fired?" he thought, recalling the many nightmares he had last night. He looked at the LED clock on his nightstand, it said 6:00 am.

"Guys!" Riley called, swinging the door open, "We don't have to be there by eight, right?" The boys nodded in unison. "So why are you freaking out?"

"We like the get there early so we can talk to fans waiting in line outside," Kendall explained.

"Aww," Riley smiled, "that's really nice! But you guys totally forgot about the interview we had on Monday, why are you so excited now?"

"Interviews are different, they're just a fake host asking us questions she really doesn't give a damn about," James answered, "concerts have actual fans who are actually excited to see us." Riley smiled at how genuine they were when everyone else in Hollywood was completely fake. It was refreshing.

"Well then," Riley said as he invited the boys into his apartment, "I'll get dressed and then we can leave."

"Don't worry too much about your outfit," James said, "they already have our wardrobe picked out for us."

"Fancy," Riley commented through the door connecting his room to the living room as he grabbed a t-shirt and old jeans, combed his hair, brushed his teeth and left the Palmwoods with his four almost friends.

"Are you nervous?" Logan asked Riley as they stepped into the limo.

"Obviously, aren't you guys?" Riley answered.

"Well, yeah," Kendall said, "you can never really shake the nervousness."

"But it gets easier to deal with over time," Carlos continued.

"Well, I might pass out, and if that happens, just keep on dancing, leave me behind," Riley told them.

"Haha," James said, "every man for himself?"

"Exactly," Riley said.

"Is your mom gonna come see you?" Carlos asked, "Ms. Knight and Katie always come to our concerts."

"Mostly so Katie can sell Big TIme Rush swag," Kendall said.

"I think she's gonna get a ride with your mom," Riley told Kendall, "but she's been really busy at work."

"Your mom has a job?" Carlos asked, completely new to the concept of stage moms having jobs.

"Yeah," Riley said, "she's the co-V.P. of some weird company that makes a bunch of organic crap. She just got moved to the L.A. office, that's the only reason I was allowed to move down here."

As the limo arrived, James turned to Riley and said, "Remember, because you're so new to the band, don't be hurt if none of our fans notice you."

"Yeah," Kendall said, "I don't want you to think we're trying to put you down or anything. It'll just take you a while to establish a solid fan base."

"I know," Riley responded, not hurt at all, "it's not like I expected to have thousands of screaming fans after my first crappy performance on a talk show. I think I can handle it."

With that being said, the five boys stepped out of the limo to be greeted my a crowd of screaming girls.

"OMG! KENDALL! I LOVE YOU!" screamed a girl while the boys walked by. Kendall stopped and gave her an autograph.

"JAMES! WILL YOU MARRY ME?" shouted another girl. James took a picture with her and her friends.

"LOGAN! YOU'RE SOOOO HOT!" a group of girls yelled as Logan said hi to them and gave them autographs.

"CARLOS! YOU'RE MY FAVORITE!" yet another crying girl exclaimed when Carlos gave her a hug and took a picture with her.

Meanwhile, Riley stood around awkwardly and offered to take pictures for the screaming girls when they were standing next to their idols trying to stretch their arms as far as possible with their cameras pointed towards them. After a while though, the screaming got to him and he developed a headache.

"Hey guys," Riley shouted over the fans, "I think I'm gonna go inside and take a nap until sound check." The other boys nodded and waved in between autographs and hugs. As Riley walked towards the back door, he heard someone scream, "RIIIILLLLLEEEEEYYYYYYY!" When he found the source of the screaming, he noticed two girls holding up a heavily glittered and sequined sign that said, "We 3 you Riley! xoxoxo" Riley was partially confused, but pleasantly surprised. "Hey," he said while waving to the two exited girls, "I'm Riley."

"We know who you are!" one of them said, "We're your biggest fans!" Riley had the hugest smile on his face. "Just one moment," he said right before he ran up to Logan and James taking a picture with three very happy fans. "Guys," he said excitedly, "I have fans!" He pointed to the two girls he spoke to earlier.

"Good for you," Logan said.

"Yeah," James replied, "that's a good start to your fanbase."

Riley didn't even acknowledge them as he ran back to the only two girls who noticed him.

"You have no idea how excited we are right now!" the other girl said.

"I can assure you," Riley responded, still smiling like a goon, "that no matter how excited you are, I am at least eight times more excited."

"I that case," one of Riley's two fans said, "celebratory jump hug?"

"You know it!" Riley exclaimed as the three teens jumped up and down excitedly while hugging.

"Well, I'm gonna go inside and get ready," Riley said to them after he gave them his autograph and took a couple pictures with them.

"Okay. We'll see you on stage!" one of the girls yelled as Riley walked away.

Riley waited in the dressing room as the other four boys filtered in. The first to walk in was Carlos.

"Dude!" Riley screamed, jumping up from the couch, "Did James or Logan tell you?"

"Tell me what?" Carlos asked, confused.

"I have fans!" Riley exclaimed.

"Hey, what's up with you?" Kendall said as he walked in to see an excited boy jumping up and down.

"Apparently," Carlos explained because Riley was too excited to speak, "Riley has a few fans." Riley nodded excitedly.

"Really," Kendall said impressed, "how many?"

"Two!" Riley shrieked. Just then, James and Logan walked into the dressing room.

"Did you tell them?" James asked Riley.

"Yeah, he did," Carlos answered for him.

"Okay dogs," Gustavo said as he walked into the dressing room, "we need to do a sound check."

The boys immediately followed him to the stage where they performed a couple songs. On their way back to the dressing room, it started to sink into Riley that he would be giving an entire concert in front of a packed concert hall where everyone would be starting at him.

"I can't do this!" Riley screamed as he made a run for the back door, but James grabbed him in time. Riley was awfully short and scrawny, so it wasn't much trouble for James to pick him up and bring him back to the dressing room, although Riley's kicking and screaming made it more annoying.

"You'll be fine," James said as Riley calmed down.

"You were great on Monday, what makes you think this'll be any different?" Kendall asked.

"Because this is so much longer," Riley responded, practically pulling his hair out, "there's a bigger margin of error." Riley started hyperventilating, but then Carlos walked up to him and slapped him across the face.

"Calm yourself!" he screamed to the boy having the mental breakdown.

"Was that necessary?" Logan asked.

"Well, he stopped screaming..." Carlos said, shrugging his shoulders. After Riley seemed to have calmed down, the hair, makeup and wardrobe crew walked in and handed everyone their outfits.

"Umm, I'm gonna go change in the bathroom," Riley said weakly as the other boys quickly changed in the dressing room.

"It's not a big deal, Riley," Kendall said.

"I'm... um... Just uncomfortable with my body! Okay!" Riley hostiley answered as he slammed the bathroom door. In a matter of minutes, all the boys were dressed and were getting their makeup done.

"Don't worry," James said to Riley, "the makeup's just so our faces aren't super washed out in the spotlights. People do it in Hollywood all the time."

"Trust me," Riley said, "I've seen enough episodes of Toddlers and Tiaras to know how much stage lights wash people out." The other boys looked at him confused, but then shrugged it off.

Before Riley knew it, he was being rushed to the wings of the stage. He couldn't see the audience because the curtain was down, but he could definitely hear them. It was the loudest noise he's ever heard. So many different girls calling out for whoever their favorite member was, Riley knew he wouldn't hear is name, but he still felt lucky to make it this far in his musical career.

The five boys shuffled on to the stage, their backs facing the audience, and prepared to start the show. Riley was impressed at how calm they looked, he wasn't sure he could do it, but he couldn't back down now. Worst comes to worst, he embarrasses himself and gets kicked out of the band. No one will remember him, and he will go back to living like a normal teenager. That sounded fun to him right about now, in all this change of scenery, he just wanted some normalcy. But he couldn't have those thoughts now, he had dug himself in this deep and he could not back down now.

The curtain raised and the girls cheered even louder, Riley could barely hear himself think. That was okay though, he didn't want to be thinking too hard about what he was going on, he just had to do it. When his cue came on, he turned around and sang in the background as the more experienced other boys sang their solos. When the first song was over, Riley finally got the nerve to look into the audience instead of at the air vents right above them. In one of the way back rows, he noticed the heavily sequined sign he saw earlier that said "We 3 you Riley! xoxoxo" He waved at them excitedly and elbowed Kendall, who was next to him by the end of the song, and whispered, coving his mic, "Thats them! Do ya see them! They're right there!"

"Yeah, that's impressive..." Kendall said as Riley continued to wave at the two excited girls. But before he had time to jump off stage and give them each another hug, the next song started. Riley was less nervous this time, and throughout the show, he got more and more comfortable on stage with the other boys.

In a few hours, the concert was over and the five tired boys walked back to the wings. Waiting for them were Ms. Knight, Katie and Mrs. Nichols.

"You guys were great!" Katie said, "And I make over $1,000 dollars in t-shirt sales! But these two girls asked if I had any Riley t-shirts, when I said no, they just walked away."

"Oh, well, those are my fans," Riley said, nonchalantly "cuz, you know, I have fans now."

"You were so great sweetie!" Riley mom said while hugging her son, "I'm so proud of you!"

"Yeah, you all were pretty great," Ms. Knight said.

"Well, my fans would say I was excellent, but, I'll take it," Riley said while examining his nails.

"We're never gonna hear the end of this, are we?" Logan asked.

"Don't worry, you guys will get fans someday, it comes faster to some than it does to others," Riley said, getting cocky.

The four other boys laughed at the fame going to his head, but they soon had to make their way to a special room with a table with five chairs. Fans shuffled in and out, freaking out about how they were in the same room as Big Time Rush. Some of the fans commented on how they thought Riley did a great job for his first time, others got mad at him for "ruining the dynamic of the band and taking the spotlight away from (favorite band member)" but Riley shook those comment and focused on the positives and others just didn't notice him at all. His two fans weren't at the meet and greet, he assumed it was because they couldn't afford the extra cost, but he was told by most of the fans that they liked him a lot and that he had gained a new fan. Even though he was seen as the underdog in the background, Riley was happy he wasn't completely hated.

When they all got to the Palmwoods, Riley was invited to hang out by the pool for a while, but he decided to go upstairs and get some rest. As he walked to the elevator, James called, "Hey!" Riley turned around and James smiled and said, "You'll be fine." Riley smiled back and stepped into the elevator.

* * *

><p><strong>The next couple of chapters are probably gonna be about Riley going from almost friends with the other boys to bros. Something interesting is gonna happen soon, I just need them to be better friends. So they'll probably be a few cute little one-shot type stories about the boys bonding for the next few chapters.<strong>


	7. Big Time Dinner

**This one is pretty of short, but I couldn't think of anything else to add and it ended on such a great conclusion. I'll hopefully have some longer one-shot type things where Riley gets closer to each person, but I haven't decided yet. I hope you enjoy though!**

* * *

><p>"Hey mom!" Riley called as his mom walked in the door of their apartment wearing a black business suit with a pencil skirt. She was forty-six, but looked pretty young for her age and had brown curly hair, just like Harper's, that was up in a tight ponytail.<p>

"Hey Harper-I mean, Riley!" she called back.

"You've gotta stop doing that!" Riley jokingly responded, "I'm Riley, okay?"

"I know, I know," she said, hugging Riley.

"So what are we doing for dinner? We haven't had Chinese in a while," Riley said while holding up takeout menus.

"Actually," she said putting down her briefcase, "I ran into Ms. Knight in the lobby and she invited us to have dinner with them." Riley looked nervous.

"Oh, stop being so dramatic!" his mom scolded, "It's been a long time since we've had a home cooked meal! Anyways, she told me that the boys really want to get to know you better. Why won't you let them?"

"You know why." Riley said.

"Oh, get over it," she said, slightly annoyed. They both walked up to apartment, Mrs. Nichols knocked on the door and Kendall opened the door.

"Oh hey!" He said happily, "Come on in." Riley walked in and saw the weirdest scene ever. James and Carlos were on the orange couch screaming and yelling at each other.

"It's my turn to play with it! Yesterday was your turn!" Carlos screamed.

"Yeah, but Gustavo made us work late, remember, so neither of us got a chance! That means it's my turn!" James screamed right back. Riley recalled yesterday, and they did stay pretty late at the recording studio.

"But you get it on odd days, and I get it on even days! and today is the 16th, so it's MY turn!"

"Guys, it's not that big of a deal," Logan said, trying to stop the fight once he noticed they had guests, "we'll go to the toy store tomorrow and get a new one."

James and Carlos gasped, "You can't just get one of these at the store!" James said while holding up what looked like a brunette barbie doll with a brown, gold and silver cocktail dress.

"Yeah," Carlos agreed, "this is the limited edition Hershey Barbie doll. They don't make these things anymore."

"They're fighting over a Barbie doll?" Riley asked Kendall.

"Yep, we have to deal with this every night." Kendall responded, sighing.

"GUYS!" Katie screamed louder than anyoneas she stomped out of her room, "If you keep fighting like this, I'm taking it back! MY dad sent it to ME, so it's MINE!" Immediately, the two stubborn boys looked at each other.

"You can have it today," James said, trying to be as nice as possible so he wouldn't lose it forever, "I'll just play with it tomorrow night." Carlos smiled and grabbed a tiny helmet. James looked frustrated, "Ugh! That damn helmet will ruin her hair," he said under his breath. Before Carlos could respond, Ms. Knight called them to the dinner table.

"What are we having?" Logan asked as he sat down.

"Shrimp scampi," Mrs. Knight answered as she set the table.

"It smells delicious!" Mrs. Nichols said as she and Riley sat down, "I'm not much of a cook, and even if I was, I never have time to make such a delicious dinner."

"Yeah, we usually just order takeout or go out to eat," Riley said, eyeing the first home cooked meal he's seen since he moved here.

"That's too bad," Kendall said, "my mom's cooking is amazing. Hey, why don't you guys come down here every night for dinner?"

"You guys totally should!" Carlos responded excitedly jumping up and down in his chair, clutching the Barbie doll.

"Can they, Ms. Knight?" James asked.

"Sure," Ms. Knight responded, "I would love to have another adult to talk to, as you already probably noticed, dinners here are awfully immature." She glared at Carlos and James as they sank down in their chairs.

"That sounds great!" Mrs. Nichols responded as Riley nodded.

"Awesome!" Katie said, "So Riley, when are you gonna be in one of the photo shoots? I need some updated t-shirts so I don't lose any more customers. And will you sign this contract making me your new manager."

"Katie!" her mom scolded, "I told you, no tricking people into signing contracts at the dinner table!" she turned to Riley, "I'm so sorry, she's trying to take over this town."

"Umm, it's okay," Riley nervously said. And the dinner continued. Logan bored everyone with what he read that day in a case study, Carlos accidentally dunked the Barbie's feet in his soda and another fight broke out, but Kendall and Riley calmed them down. Meanwhile, Mrs. Nichols and Ms. Knight discussed their interest in romance novels, peace and quiet and getting deals on organic food. They made plans to have a spa day and start a book club the next weekend. And the whole fiasco repeated itself the next night, and the next night. They were all becoming one big, dysfunctional, happy family.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm not that happy with this chapter because it's so short and uneventful, but I wanted Riley and Kendall's moms to become friends, and a reason for Riley to be in their apartment every night, and this is what I came up with. I had trouble deciding what it was that James and Carlos were fighting over, and when I made it a barbie doll, I just googled "limited edition barbie doll" and clicked on the one that looked the cutest. So, that limited edition Hershey Barbie doll is a real thing.<strong>


	8. Big Time Hockey

**Whooo! Second one this weekend! I really like the beginning of this, but I have to apologize in advance for the hockey game. I know nothing about hockey and I just winged it. If you're a hockey fan and the way I depicted the game is completely wrong and borderline offensive (it probably is) I am really really sorry. Please forgive me?**

* * *

><p>"Hey!" Carlos yelled as he and the other boys busted into Riley's apartment, making him jump a foot in the air, "You should come play hockey with us today!"<p>

"Umm, I don't think so," Riley said.

"Why not?" Kendall asked.

"I've never played hockey before..." Riley said.

"C'mon!" James said, "It's not that hard! And we'll go easy on you."

"I still don't know, I mean, I don't have any of those hockey tools you need to play," Riley said. The boys snickered at "hockey tools".

"You can borrow some equipment from us," Logan offered.

"Um, I guess I can't hurt, right?" Riley said as the other boys cheered, "What should I wear?"

"Here," Kendall said, throwing a spare jersey at him. It landed on Riley's face.

"Oh!" James said, getting an idea, "How about you drive?"

"So THAT'S what this is about?" Riley smirked as he pulled the jersey off his face. Riley's mom had recently been given the new fancy electric car called the "Leaf" from her company, so Riley inherited her old Lexus convertible. It was no secret that the four teenagers were impressed by the car.

"Okay, maybe," Logan admitted, "but we also thought you should learn about hockey, that's what the 'Rush' from Big Time Rush is from."

"Is it?" Riley asked, "I guess I should know a little bit about hockey to be part of this band."

"Plus," Carlos continued, "we need to teach little California boys about the best sport in the world!" The four excited boys all high fived. Riley rolled his eyes and walked into his room to change into the jersey that was recently thrown at his face. The four boys, already dressed in hockey gear sat on the couch, waiting for Riley to come out. Carlos then got bored and started snooping thorough Riley's stuff. He came across what he assumed was his wallet, but when he opened it up, the license in it said "Harper Robin Nichols" and had a picture of his twin sister.

"Riley!" Carlos called, "why do you have Harper's drivers license?"

"WHAT!" Riley screamed as he bursted out of his door and gathered around the small plastic card with all the other boys already staring at it.

"So THAT'S what she looks like..." James said, "she's hotter than I imagined."

"Dude!" Riley said as he hit James in the back of the head, "umm...our grandmother gave us the same wallet for our birthday, maybe when she came to visit, they got switched up." he guessed, then snatched the wallet and license from Carlos and put it in his pocket as he walked towards the door.

"But you can't drive with someone else's license," Logan said.

"It's fine," Riley said, "we just won't get pulled over."

"I still don't think this is a good idea," Logan hesitated.

"Calm down, man," Kendall said, "Riley's got this." The five boys in jerseys walked out the door and into the parking lot. As soon as the boys could see the silver Lexus, Kendall called out, "shotgun!" and the three others moaned in defeat. They all settled into the car with Riley and Kendall in the front while James, Logan and Carlos shoved themselves in the back. Because they were in L.A., the closest ice rink was almost an hour away.

"Um, I think you should slow down," Logan weakly said from the middle seat while they were on the freeway.

"Stop being such a baby," James said, getting into his aggressive hockey mood.

"Yeah, don't worry," Riley said, "I'm a very safe driv-" before he could finish his sentence, he heard police sirens. Riley pulled over and the other boys freaked out.

"Dude! what are you gonna do? You have Harper's license!" Carlos cried as the policeman pulled up behind them.

"Oh my god!" James sulked, "you're gonna get arrested and we're all gonna die!" The policeman got out of the car.

"We're not gonna die," Kendall said, "Logan has a plan, what's the plan Logan?"

"Why is this MY responsibility?" Logan aggressively responded, "I'm the one who said we shouldn't be doing this!" The policeman got closer to the Lexus. "Okay," Logan gave in, "Kendall, switch places with Riley, you have your license with you, right?"

"Well, yeah, but my mom will kill me if I get a ticket, and I don't think we have time, he's almost here!" Kendall said as he watched the policeman get closer and closer.

"Everybody calm down!" Riley screamed, "I got this, just play along okay?" The officer approached the driver's window.

"License and registration please," he said looking over his aviator sunglasses.

"Right away officer," Riley responded in a surprisingly girly voice. He reached into the glove box and handed a piece of paper and Harper's license to the officer.

"Ummm, Miss Nichols?" the officer looked confused.

"Yes? Is there a problem?" Riley asked, still in a girly voice.

"No, it's just, your hair is a lot shorter than in this picture."

"Well, I decided to cut it," Riley said in a sassy tone. The officer looked at the license, then at Riley, then back at the license, then back at Riley. He opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again, "Umm," he said, "are you sure you're a girl?"

"What are you trying to say?" Riley said as his voice cracked and he started to cry dramatically. Kendall, who up until this point was just staring at the scene in awe like the three boys in the back, jumped in and yelled, "Can't you see she's insecure about it? What kind of a person are you?"

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-" the officer stuttered until Kendall interrupted him, "We should sue you for emotional distress, this is police brutality!" Riley just continued sobbing uncontrollably.

"I'm so sorry, miss," The officer said, worried, "here, no ticket for today, just drive a little slower next time, okay?" he handed Riley his papers back and ran to his car. Once the policeman left, Riley calmly wiped his tears and gave Kendall a high five.

"That's how it's done," he said as he got back on the road, making sure to drive the speed limit this time. The others were speechless until James finally snapped out of it and asked, "How did you do that?"

"Do what?" Riley asked, "Talk like a girl?" the four shocked boys nodded, "I had to live in the same room as my sister for the first ten years of my life, you tend to pick a few things up. She has a pretty impressive man voice too." He smirked.

"Dude! That was awesome!" Carlos exclaimed after a few minutes of silence, "you should join the improv group Kendall and I are starting. You're a fricken genius!"

"Why thank you," Riley said as they pulled into the ice rink. The five boys got out and grabbed their hockey gear out of the trunk.

"Are you sure I'll be okay?" Riley asked nervously, "I hear about hockey players getting badly injured in games all the time, and I don't want to get badly injured."

"You won't," Kendall said, "I mean, sure, you may lose a few teeth, but that happens to everyone."

"I'm definitely regretting this decision..." Riley said, mostly to himself, as they walked into the rink. The ice rink was completely empty.

"Let's play!" Carlos yelled once everyone had put on their skates and various protective gear. James and Carlos formed a team while Logan and Kendall formed another team, this was how it's been since forever.

"Umm... who's team am I on?" Riley asked.

"You can be on ours!" Carlos said. James nudged Carlos and mumbled, "Are you sure we want the newbie holding us back?"

"Not really, but you know how competitive Kendall gets," Carlos mumbled back. James thought of the terrifying rage Kendall has when he loses any kind of hockey game, he would probably never want to see Riley again if he was responsible for his team losing.

"Good point," James mumbled back.

"Okay," Kendall said, not hearing the mumbles, "Let's get started."

The four hockey players glided onto the ice and got into position, Riley slipped and slid down to where the rest of his team was.

"Am I holding this thing right?" Riley whispered to James. James looked at Riley and sighed.

"No, like this," he said, moving Riley's hands to the right places, "all you have to do is make sure that the puck doesn't go past this point," he pointed to a line in the ice, "Carlos is the goalie, but you're still defense, understand?"

"Uh huh," Riley said, getting into what he thought was a good defensive position. For a while, James and Kendall chased around the puck for a while, Carlos blocked a few shots, Logan blocked a few shots, James made a few shots, Kendall made a few shots and everyone ignored Riley. They were tied, and the next goal would win the game, and Kendall had an idea, he would shoot the puck towards Riley, who would mess up so hard that it would probably go into his own team's net. It was out there, but knowing Riley's luck, it would work. He shot the puck towards Riley, who tried to hit it towards James, but it went right between his legs. Riley, trying to redeem himself, went after it and planned on passing it to James, but when Kendall's plan didn't work out as well as he'd hoped, he glided past the stumbling Riley, whacking him out of the way which shot him halfway across the ice, and, while Carlos was distracted by the boy sliding across the rink on his face, Kendall scored a goal.

"Whooooooooo!" Kendall cheered as he gave Logan a high five.

"Congrats!" James said, giving them a "good game" handshake.

"Has anyone seen my tooth?" Riley asked, sitting on the ice, trying to stop the bleeding coming from his mouth.

"Yeah," Carlos called, "it's over here." Carlos picked up a tooth a good two meters away from where Riley had ended up.

"Sorry about that," Kendall said, helping the small boy up, "I forgot how light and tiny you were."

"It's cool," Riley said, grabbing on to Kendall as he wobbled on the ice, "you did warn me this would happen."

"Do you want to come with us again next week?" Logan asked as they took off their gear outside the rink.

Riley thought for a second, "Yeah, sure," he answered with a less than toothy smile, "this was fun!"

They all stuffed back into the Lexus, stopped at the 22 minute dentist, and went back to the Palmwoods.

* * *

><p><strong>As I said, I don't know anything about hockey. Just pretend it's all accurate.<strong>


	9. Big Time Move

**There's not really much to say about this. It kind of just speaks for itself.**

* * *

><p>Gustavo was furious. He stared at the five boys in the recording booth with an anger no one had ever felt before. His stare was so intense, the boys could feel it through the sound-proof glass. At the moment, they were supposed to be recording an acoustic version of "Worldwide" it was the last song they had to do on their special acoustic album, but the boys started to get stir crazy and went a little insane. Gustavo tried his best to get them under control, he even sent Freight Train in to settle everyone down, but the five just laughed and everything they saw.<p>

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Gustavo!" James yelled into the microphone while snickering.

"What, James?" Gustavo said, massaging his temples.

"Did you know, that a nickname for Gustavo," James snickered some more, "is 'Gus'" The four other boys cracked up like it was the funniest thing they'd ever heard.

"Hey Gus!" Riley yelled, "How do you like being called Gus?"

"I'm sure Gus loves being called Gus," Kendall said, "don't you Gus?"

"Hey Gus!" Carlos said, "Can you get me a corndog?" when Carlos got stir crazy, he got hungry, and the only thing he cared about at the moment was getting a corndog.

"EVERYBODY STOP!" Gustavo yelled as he banged his fists on the table. The boys looked scared for a second, but then started laughing even harder than ever. Carlos even ended up on the floor, he was literally ROFL.

"Okay, that's it!" Gustavo yelled as he busted into the recording booth, "everyone out! I won't need you for two weeks! Go annoy someone else!" He pushed each hysterical band member out of the building, making sure they wouldn't come back.

"Hey guys," Riley said, trying to put on a straight face, "I think we made him angry."

"You think?" Kendall said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Well, what if he decides to drop us?" Riley said, looking concerned.

"He won't," Logan said, "this happens every time we finish up an album."

"Plus, we get two weeks off!" James said excitedly.

"Okay then, let's go," Riley said as he took out the keys to his car, "wait, where's Carlos?" Almost on cue, Carlos showed up with five corndogs.

"Oh, that's nice Carlos! You got a corndog for everyone!" Logan said with his teacher voice, trying to teach the Latino how to share.

"... no I dndnt," Carlos said with a mouthful of corndog. Logan put his head down in defeat.

"I don't care," Riley said, "just don't get anything on my leather seats." The five got into the car and made their way back to the Palmwoods.

-Two weeks later-

Kendall woke up to the sound of tweetling from his phone. He groggily picked it up and read his new text message. Gustavo wanted them to show up to the studio at 8:00. Kendall loved the break, but he know this day would come. He stood up and looked at his roommate, Logan, who was sprawled out on his bed. Kendall could have just woken him up and told him about what Gustavo said, but he didn't have time for that. Kendall threw one of his spare pillows right at Logan's face and walked out of the room. Logan, startled by the pillow, jolted up. He looked around and noticed that no one else was in his room. He quickly shrugged it off and walked out into the kitchen.

"Oh, good, you're up," Kendall said as he made some toast.

"...Yeah..." Logan responded, still confused about who threw the pillow at him.

"Can you wake up James and Carlos?" Kendall continued, "Gustavo said we need to be at the studio at 8:00"

"It's been two weeks already?" Logan asked as he turned the stereo on and turned the volume up all the way. While waking up Logan and Kendall was easy, the other two boys required a little more effort to get out of bed. Once the stereo was blaring, Logan busted into James' and Carlos' room and pulled their covers off. Carlos was the first one to jerk awake, when he was conscience enough understand what was happening, he looked up and gave Logan a "what gives?" look.

"Gustavo wants us in the studio today," Logan responded.

"It's been two weeks already?" James asked as he combed his hair. He never got out of bed without combing his hair first.

"Apparently," Logan said as he walked out of the room.

In a matter of minutes, they four boys were dressed and ready to go.

"Do you guys need me to drive you there?" Ms. Knight asked.

"Whoa," James said, "this face can't be seen getting out of a minivan," he pointed to his face.

Kendall sighed, "We'll see if Riley can drive us."

"Okay, have fun!" Ms. Knight cheerily called after them.

Carlos was just about to knock on Riley's door when they heard a huge crash and Riley scream, "You can't do this to me!"

"Don't throw things!" his mom yelled back, "And yes I can do this! I've been working toward this all my life! This is my dream! They need me!"

"But what about MY dream!" Riley screamed back, "How come you never care about me! You only want to save the world!"

"You know that's not true!" Mrs. Nichols responded, "And this isn't your only dream! You are capable of being anything you want to be! Don't you want to be a lawyer and follow in mine and your dad's footsteps?"

Meanwhile, outside the door, the four boys looked puzzled and worried.

"Ummmm..." Carlos said, "What do we do?"

"Let's just knock and tell him that he needs to be at Roque Records," Logan responded as he knocked on the door.

"WHAT!" Riley screamed as he swung open the door. The four boys on the other side stepped back a few feet.

"Gustavo needs us in the studio..." Kendall said awkwardly.

"Well tell him I'll be a little late!" Riley sassed back and slammed the door where the screaming continued.

"Aww man!" James lamented.

"I know," Kendall said, "that sounds like a pretty bad fight."

"No, not about that," James said, as if Kendall was speaking a different language, "now we have to take the minivan!"

"You're awful," Logan said to the tall brunette, yet they walked back to their apartment and got a ride with Kendall's mom in her minivan.

When they arrived at Roque Records, Ms. Knight and Katie walked in with them. Gustavo looked at the four band members standing in front of him and got angry.

"Where's the pup?" he yelled, getting frustrated that his dogs couldn't follow one single command.

"He's gonna be a little late," Kendall said, "he and his mom got in a huge fight."

Gustavo sighed and handed them each a piece of paper and a CD.

"This is the first song on your new album, have it engraved in your brains by next week and we'll record it." He said.

"Alright!" Carlos said, "I'm psyched for this new album! It's gonna be awesome!"

Just then, Riley slumped into Gustavo's office and everyone started at him.

"How nice of you to show up," Gustavo said sarcastically, "Memorize this song, you have a solo in it." He handed the sad looking boy a piece of paper and a CD.

"I don't think I should do that," Riley said, handing it back.

"Why the hell not?" Gustavo screamed.

"My mom got a new job in Chicago as the CEO of some lame-ass environment-saving company and the entire family is moving there." Riley looked down at his shoes.

"What?" everyone in the room screamed in unison.

"Why can't you just stay here while the rest of your family moves to Chicago?" Katie asked, "Carlos, Logan and James are here without their families."

"Yeah," Riley said, "but that only works because Ms. Knight it your legal guardian."

"He's right," Logan said in a know-it-all voice, "Riley's a minor and minors can't live without a legal guardian."

"But there HAS to be some way for him to stay here!" Gustavo yelled. Kendall looked at his mom, who nodded approvingly.

"You can live with us," he said.

"What?" Riley asked.

"My mom can be YOUR legal guardian too, and you can live with us." Kendal explained like it was nothing.

"Yes!" Gustavo said, "do that!"

"But six people already live in that apartment, I don't think they'll be enough room for a seventh," Riley said pessimistically.

"We have plenty of room!" Carlos said, "You can sleep in the swirly slide!" he paused for a second, "no, you can sleep in my bed while I sleep in the swirly slide!" Carlos jumped up and down with excitement.

"Alright, NO ONE is sleeping in the swirly slide!" Ms. Knight said, trying to shut down the idea before Carlos got too attached, "Riley, you can sleep on the couch for now until we can find a place to fit another bed." Riley still seemed hesitant.

"What's wrong?" James asked, "It works out perfectly!"

Riley shrugged and said, "I don't know, it's just..." Gustavo interrupted, "You're doing it!"

Riley looked at Gustavo and started to ask, "But what if they-"

"They won't," Gustavo said.

"Okay, I guess I'll do it!" Riley exclaimed. Everybody then commenced into a celebratory jump hug.

"But wait," Ms. Knight interrupted, "we need to make sure it's okay with your mom."

After getting the new song, all the boys made their way back to the Palmwoods. Riley was nervous to walk back into his apartment. He left the scene at the end of a huge fight where he said things he wish he didn't, but he faced his fears and walked in to see him mom packing up all his things into boxes.

"Oh, hey, sweetie," she said, "I'm really sorry it has to turn out this way, but there are no other options." She gave him a hug which he graciously returned.

"Actually," he said, "there is a way I can stay here and you can still move to Chicago."

"How?" she responded, confused.

"You can just sign these papers, making me his legal guardian for now, and he can live with us," Ms. Knight said as she walked into the apartment.

"I don't know," Mrs. Nichols hesitated, "I mean, I never imagined someone else being my only child's legal guardian."

"Umm, don't you have two kids?" Ms. Knight asked.

"I meant only son's," Mrs. Nichols stated.

"Okay then," Ms. Knight said, trying to get back on subject, "don't worry, it's not like I'll be his new mom, he'll just live with us, and this is the only way to make it legal."

"Please mom," Riley pleaded, "you know how important this is for me." Mrs. Nichols thought for a while and finally agreed to let Riley live here.

Riley and his mom packed up all their things, which didn't take that long because they never really finished unpacking. A week later, their lease expired on their crappy apartment. Mrs. Nichols was to drive back up to where the rest of the Nichols family lived and help pack, then leave for Chicago. Riley helped her lug all of her things into her car, and when they were done, it was finally time for his mom to leave.

"I'm gonna miss you," Riley said as he hugged his mom, "I've never lived without you for more than a few nights."

"You'll be fine," Mrs. Nichols said, "just remember to call me every night, okay?"

"I will," Riley said, "say hi to dad for me." Riley's mom then got in her car and drove away. Riley missed his mom already, but then he noticed Logan and Carlos behind him.

"I wasn't about to cry," Riley said quickly as he wiped his eyes.

"We know," Carlos said.

"Let's go upstairs and move you in to our apartment," Logan said as the three shorter boys walked towards the lobby.

* * *

><p><strong>What kind of fanfiction writer would I be if I didn't add just a little cheesiness?<strong>


	10. Big Time Settling In

**There's kind of like eight different story lines in here, but it works, kind of, maybe. Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>It had been an hour since his mom left and Riley had moved into apartment 2J. Although, it wasn't really "moving in" he just grabbed the few boxes he had and put them next to the couch. Riley decided that he would take things out of the boxes when he needed them. He sat on the couch watching T.V. with Kendall. Carlos was at the pool doing some stupid stunt, James was down in the lobby hitting on girls and Logan was in his room reading a book. Riley wasn't really paying attention to what he was watching, he was mostly thinking about how this was where he was going to live. When he was chosen as the new member of Big Time Rush, everything he knew changed before he could even comprehend what had just happened. Now, once he had finally gotten settled, everything was going to change for him again.<p>

He looked up and noticed that a new episode of "New Town High" was going to be on next, but Kendall changed the channel.

"Dude!" Riley yelled, "I wanted to watch that! I gotta see if Drake and Rachel can repair their relationship after Maria started that rumor about how Drake was cheating and Rachel was an alien sent to wipe out the human race!"

"They repair their relationship," Kendall said with a sad face and sighed, "then they make out for three pages."

"Okay, one: spoiler alert! Two: how did you know that? And three: SPOILER ALERT!" Riley said angrily to Kendall.

"I was there when they recorded it," Kendall said, not taking his eyes off the shampoo commercial.

"Okay then, but I still haven't seen it!" Riley said, "Change the channel back!"

Before Kendall could argue against it, his girlfriend, Jo, walked into the apartment.

"Hey Jo!" Riley called, "Can you convince your boyfriend that he should let me watch the new episode of New Town High?"

"The one where Maria starts the rumor that my character is an alien, but it turns out that she's the alien and Drake and I save the world from the evil alien overlord?" Jo asked as she sat down on the couch.

"That's the one," Kendall said as he tried to find something else to watch.

"Oh my god! You guys are awful!" Riley screamed, covering his ears so he wouldn't hear any more spoilers.

"Just let him watch it," Jo said, "what's the worst that could happen?"

"I have to watch you and Jet make out for the millionth time," Kendall mumbled, crossing his arms.

"I told you," Jo said, "it's Rachel and Drake, not me and Jet. Now just go back to New Town High."

"Well, I don't want to watch it now that you guys spoiled the entire thing for me," Riley complained.

"Heh, sorry," Jo said as she grinned apologetically. Kendall didn't care.

Ms. Knight and Katie walked through the door fighting about something.

"First thing tomorrow you're apologizing to Bitters!" Ms. Knight demanded.

"What? No! I didn't do anything wrong!" Katie defended herself.

"You pushed him into the pool!" Ms. Knight exclaimed.

"Well HE wouldn't let me open my snow cone stand back up!" Katie responded, "Plus he was being really annoying! He got what he deserved." Ms. Knight sighed and turned towards the three teenagers watching the argument.

"Hey Jo!" she said waving, then turned to Riley, "Riley, did you get yourself settled?"

"I guess," Riley said, looking at the boxes he carelessly stacked in the corner of the living room.

"Ugh!" Katie exclaimed, "I can't believe I'm forced to live with yet ANOTHER teenage boy!" She then stormed into her room.

"Hey!" Kendall called from the couch, "What's wrong with teenage boys!" but Katie ignored him and slammed her door.

"She doesn't mean that," Ms. Knight explained, "she's just been having a rough day."

"Thanks..." Riley said awkwardly. Logan then walked out of his room and turned to the people on the couch and said, "I'm gonna go meet Camille down at the pool, do you guys want to come with?"

"Sure," Jo and Kendall said as they got up from the couch then turned around to look at Riley.

"Are you coming?" Kendall asked.

"I don't think so," Riley replied, "sitting by the pool while everyone else swims in it is only so fun."

"Y'know," Logan said, "one day you'll have to show us your penis," referencing to the scar on Riley's torso.

"I know! But not today!" Riley called as Ms. Knight and Jo looked shocked and confused.

"It's a long story," Riley said as he glared at Logan for bringing it up.

"Okay then, I'm going to the grocery store, and usually I would take Katie, but she's in a bad mood, so can you just keep an eye on her until I get back?" Ms. Knight asked Riley.

"Sure thing," Riley said, as he decided to watch New Town High despite the spoilers. It wasn't until Ms. Knight left when he realized that he was told to babysit Katie, who had just declared that she hated the fact he was living here. Riley continued to watch the last half of New Town High, but declared it pointless since he knew what was going to happen. He decided he should al least confront Katie and apologize for... being a teenage boy? He walked up to her door and knocked.

"Who is it?" Katie yelled from the other side of the door.

"It's Riley," he answered.

"Well go away!" she yelled back.

"Look, I just wanted to talk to you!" Riley said. He heard a sigh and the door swung open and Katie walked back to her computer. Riley walked into the girl's room, it had light pink walls with Christmas LED lights hanging around the ceiling, the bed had bright floral sheets and there were posters of puppies, kittens and Dak Zevon on the walls. It looked like a normal eleven year old girl's room.

"What do want to talk about?" she asked, not looking up from her computer.

"Umm, I just wanted to apologize for being a teenage boy?" Riley weakly said.

"I know it's not your fault you're living here," Katie said, turning around, "I'm not even that angry about it, I've just had an awful day."

"Because Bitters wouldn't let you sell snow cones?" Riley questioned.

"No, it's not that, it's just... ah, forget it!" Katie said as she turned back to her computer.

"C'mon, tell me," Riley said in a high voice while poking Katie's shoulder.

"Okay okay!" she yelled as she turned around again and sighed, "Kyle doesn't want to go out with me again because he says I'm too butch." she looked down.

"Wait," Riley said, confused, "is Kyle the guy I saw you talking to in the park this morning?"

"Yeah," she said, still looking down, "he said that he likes playing video games with be, but he'll always think of me as a 'bro'" Riley thought for a minute and then finally declared, "Well, that guy's hair looks dumb, so who even cares?" Katie looked up at him with a "do you even hear yourself?" look.

"I mean, that hair is totally from the 90's and totally out of style," Katie still looked at him confused. Riley then remembered that Katie is eleven, and it was 2011, therefore making her not even born in the 90's.

"Okay, disregard that," Riley said, "but you're definitely not butch, I mean, look at this room."

"But my best friends are my older brother and his friends, and I've never really had a close friend who's a girl, and this new girl my age moved into the Palmwoods, and she's like, super girly and does this annoying giggly thing and everyone loves her!"

"That blonde chick?" Riley asked, Katie nodded and he continued, "She's friggen annoying! She always walks around the pool like she's so hot and I just wanna be like 'You're eleven, calm your non-existant tits and go play with your toys.'" Katie cracked up.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't say things like in front of impressionable young minds," Riley muttered. "especially when they're about eleven year old girls."

"No, that was hilarious!" Katie said, still laughing.

"Why thank you. You can ad 'being hilarious' to the list of things I'm awesome at," Riley said, "but in all seriousness, don't tell her I said that."

"I won't, I won't" Katie replied.

"Okay," Riley said, "but you shouldn't care about what people think of you, I mean, you're awesome. So what if a guy with dumb hair thinks differently?"

"Thanks Riley," Katie said.

"No problem," Riley responded as he walked out and closed the door. After a while, Ms. Knight came back with the groceries, Carlos, James, Kendall and Logan showed up just in time for dinner. They all played table hockey for a while, Carlos, James and Riley played a few violent video games, Logan studied his medical books, Katie planned a new way to take over the town and Kendall texted Jo for a while. It was 10:00 and everyone was sent to bed. Riley slowly made his makeshift bed on the couch while everyone was sleeping, turned off the GT Xpress 101 infomercial, got ready for bed and went to sleep for the first time in his new home.

-Next Morning-

Ms. Knight woke up at 8:00 to the sound of someone going through the kitchen. She considered a few things that could cause the noses she heard: Carlos had a craving for a quesadilla dipped in peanut butter, James hid one of Logan's medical books somewhere in the kitchen and he was now frantically looking for it, or there was a robber/murderer/rapist in the apartment. Her maternal instincts kicked into gear as she grabbed one of her shoes as a weapon and slowly walked out into the kitchen, where she saw none of the scenarios she assumed. In front of her, was an energetic Riley, completely dressed and presentable looking, trying his best to poach eggs. He turned around and noticed he woman holding a shoe, looking confused.

"Oh hey there Ms. Knight! Did I wake you up?" Riley said in a perky voice.

"Um, what are you doing up this early?" Ms. Knight asked tiredly.

"I just thought I'd say thank you for being so nice and letting me into your home by making an amazing breakfast for everyone!" Riley answered, "I first decided to make some eggs benedict because I have a recipe for some pretty mean hollandaise sauce, but then I remembered that Kendall doesn't like eggs, so I made French toast and bacon, but then I remembered that James is on a low carb and low fat diet, so I made some grilled turkey sausage with scrambled egg whites, then I thought, 'Oh... Carlos' so I also made some chocolate chip pancakes with a whipped cream smily face."

"Wow! How long did this take you?" Ms. Knight asked as Riley put some eggs benedict in front of her.

"Not that long, I woke up at 6:00, so I had plenty of time," Riley said, "I had to take a trip to the store, but I love cooking, so it wasn't a chore at all." Just then, Katie, Logan and Kendall were drawn out of their rooms by the smell of bacon.

"Dude!" Kendall exclaimed as he grabbed some French Toast and Bacon, just as Riley had expected, "This looks delicious!"

"Yeah," Logan said as Riley handed him a plate of eggs benedict, "you didn't have to do this."

"But I'm super glad you did!" Kate said as she tried to decide on what to eat. Carlos, also lured by the smell of bacon, walked out of his room.

"Is James awake?" Ms. Knight asked Carlos.

"Yeah, he's just combing his hair," the boy in the helmet answered as he stared at the array of food in front of him, his face was neutral until he noticed the chocolate chip pancakes at the end of the counter.

"IT'S PANCAKE MAN!" the excited boy screamed as he grabbed all the pancakes he could fit on one plate. James then walked out, with perfect hair or course, and grabbed a plate of scrambled egg whites and an English muffin.

"Riley, did you do all this?" James asked.

"Yep," Riley said proudly, "I just wanted to thank you all."

"It's fricken amazing!" Kendall exclaimed with French toast in his mouth.

"Why thank you," Riley responded, "you can add 'cooking' to the list of things I'm awesome at!"

"Dude," Carlos said as he looked at the scrambled egg whites and English muffin on James' plate, "why would you eat that crap when there's pancake man?" He motioned to the small stack of chocolate chip pancakes left.

"I'm on a diet, remember?" James answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "and pancake man is full of empty carbs."

"But... Pancake man is delicious," Carlos replied.

"And that's the problem," James said as he took a bite of his English muffin. Eventually though, the tall brunette caved and had half of a pancake.

When everyone was done with their delicious breakfasts, it was time for them to leave for Roque Records. The five boys all piled into Riley's car and drove away practicing the song they memorized.

"Did you know I have a solo in this song?" Riley asked as they all got out of the car.

"Yeah," James said, "we all learned the song and we all have solos"

"I know," Riley answered, "I'm just really excited, I've never had a solo before!"

They made their way up to Gustavo's floor, recorded and rerecorded the song. They stayed pretty on task this time, unlike the last time they recorded. Riley needed a little help with his part, but he eventually got it perfect.

"Good dogs," Gustavo said as they stepped out of the recording booth, "be here tomorrow for the dance moves to go with this song," he handed them each a new piece of paper and CD, "memorize this song by next week." Each band member looked over their parts. Riley stopped and put his hand up saying, "Whoa, whoa, whoa... Whoa, whoa whoa,"

"What is it now?" Gustavo said, clearly annoyed.

"It says here that I'm doing the bridge," Riley said, pointing at his paper, "I can't do the bridge, the bridge is not for me." Gustavo turned to him and calmly said, "If I say you're doing the bridge, THEN YOU'RE DOING THE BRIDGE!" Riley leaned away from the scary man in his face.

"It's just... Carlos is always the best at doing the bridges," Riley muttered as Carlos started to form a huge smile, "I don't want to take that away from him."

"I think he's right Gustavo," Carlos jumped in, "not many people can pull it off as well as I can."

"Shut up, shut up, shut up," Gustavo said, "you do what I tell you to do, and that is that." He then slammed the door of his office.

"Well," Kendall said as he put his hand on Riley's shoulder, "it looks like you're doing the bridge."

"I would seem like it, wouldn't it?" Riley worriedly said.

"Let's go home," James said. The five guys got back to the Palmwoods and started learning their new song.

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><p><strong>I'm not a huge fan of how this turned out, mostly because nothing really happens in this one. But eventually, things will pick up again. Big Time. (get it?)<strong>


	11. Big Time Cooking

**This chapter is basically leading up to the next one. I really wanted to put some Riley and Carlos fluff, and eventually I'll have fluff with Riley and everyone. Enjoy!**

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><p>The boys were at the studio, learning and practicing the dance for the first song on their next album. Riley found it a lot easier to learn the moves when the other four were learning it with him. It was still hard though. Riley was better at singing, and dancing took a lot more practice. He was concentrating so hard on perfecting the moves, he didn't even notice how late it was until James said, "Can we leave now? I have a date at 7:00!"<p>

"Yeah," Kendall agreed, "Jo and I have plans tonight."

"Me too," Logan added, "Camille and I were gonna hang out."

"Ugh!" Gustavo grunted, "You dogs need to learn how to not have social lives." Kendall, Logan and James gave him an apologetic look. Gustavo sighed, "Fine, you guys have it down pretty well anyway, but don't forget about the second song I gave you!" he called to them as they frantically ran out of the building.

Back at the Palmwoods, Logan and Kendall had already left, Katie and Ms. Knight went to see a movie, and James called Carlos into their room.

"Um, what do you want?" Carlos asked, confused.

"So, my date's guinea pig has rickets or something, so she canceled on me," James answered, "so I'm going to take this extra time by teaching you about how to have game."

"I'm not sure I'm okay with that," Carlos said.

"Like that matters," James laughed as he grabbed some of his old clothes.

"Okay," he continued, "a huge part about having game, is to have your own style and be yourself, so we're going change everything about you and make you more like me."

"Because that makes since," Carlos said sarcastically under his breath.

"I've decided that you're now going to be a bad boy," James said as he threw a leather jacket at his friend's face.

"Umm," Carlos said as he pulled the jacket off his face, "I've tried the bad boy look before, it didn't work out. Somehow I turned British halfway through."

"That's because you weren't doing it right," James said as he threw more clothes at the smaller boy, "put these on and I'll teach you about how to act." After a few minutes, Carlos was fully dressed, clad in leather and studs.

"Y'know, I could get used to this!" Carlos said as he did a couple poses in the mirror.

"See! You're already getting used to your new self!" James exclaimed, "Now, when you see a girl, you cannot approach them! I know your usual style is to run into them, freak out, tell them you love them and then run away, but that doesn't work. When you see a girl, you have to lean back like this," James leaned back, supporting himself with his elbows on the dresser, and put one foot over the other, "put your sunglasses on, look away, and wait for them to come to you."

"But... What if they don't come to me?" Carlos asked, finding flaws in the technique.

"Then you're not doing it right," James said, "once the girl does approach you, she'll start talking to you. whenever she asks a question, never give a definite answer. For example, if she asks, 'OMG! Do you like me dress' you say, 'I guess,' or 'maybe' or 'sure'. Never say anything other than those words,"

"Why not?" Carlos asked.

"Because then your personality will mess it up," James said.

"Okay, so I should never approach a girl and never give her definite answers, right?" Carlos asked.

"Good!" James said, "You're catching on!"

"Now what?" Carlos asked again, "Do we field test this or something?"

"Oh no," James chucked, "you still need one more thing." He took out a stick that was white and black, Carlos thought it was a miniature magic wand, "Guyliner!"

"What the hell is that!" Carlos exclaimed.

"Guyliner," James said again, "guy eyeliner." James sat down next to Carlos on his bed and started jabbing at his friend's eye with the magic wand stick.

"Dude!" Carlos screamed as he tried to dodge the attacks.

"Would you just hold still for a second!" James yelled as he grabbed the sides of Carlos' face and looked at his eyes.

"Is everyone okay?" Riley yelled as he ran into the room, he then stopped when he noticed one of his friends gazing into the other's eyes. He sighed and said, "Well, this was inevitable," he turned around, "I'm not going to judge or anything because I believe that love is love, but can you please keep your dirty business off the couch? That's where I sleep and I already had to chase Kendall and Jo off it today, and I don't want to have to keep flipping the cushions. Mkay?" James and Carlos jumped away from each other and screamed.

"No! No! No!" James yelled, "it's not what it looks like!"

"Yeah! He was just putting guyliner on me!" Carlos clarified. Riley turned back around and let out a small laugh, "Because that's not gay at all! Anyways, you're doing it all wrong." Riley walked back into the room and grabbed the eyeliner out of James' hand, "You don't want to fricken stab his damn eye out with it! You want to gently glide it along the edge of his eyelid over and over until it is dark enough." Riley demonstrated until Carlos had perfectly applied guyliner.

"Wow!" James exclaimed, "That looks great! Where did you learn to do that?"

"Umm... My sister would always have her friends over and they'd do makeovers, and I picked some of the technique up." Riley said. Before the two boys could ask anymore questions, James got a text.

"Aw yeah!" he yelled, " I gotz a date tonight!"

"But I thought her guinea pig had rickets," Carlos questioned.

"Rule #12 in the book of playah: always have a back up date," James said as he grabbed his coat and ran out the door. Carlos and Riley stood around awkwardly for a minute, until Riley broke the silence, "So... you're forever alone too?"

"Yeah," he responded, "I've just never been very good with girls, that's why James dressed me up like this."

"I'm like opposite of that," Riley responded, "I always become such great friends with girls, but I'm always in the friend zone."

"I've never even had a girlfriend," Carlos said, "Well, that's not entirely true, Gustavo once hired this girl to pretend to date me so she would break my heart so I would sing better on the break up song."

"That's just wrong," Riley said, shocked.

"Yeah, but when they told me, she said that she actually did want to go out with me, for real," Carlos continued.

"That's nice," Riley said optimistically.

"But then she told me she didn't like corndogs," Carlos said, "so I had to break up with her."

"Well obviously," Riley responded, "she is probably and alien sent here to destroy the world. And you do NOT want that emotional baggage." Carlos looked at him confused.

"No human being would dislike corndogs," Riley explained. Carlos nodded.

"Do you want to play some video games?" Carlos asked.

"Fo sheezies!" Riley said, Carlos assumed that meant "for sure".

They proceeded to play video games for a while, until they both got bored.

"Ugh!" Riley groaned, "We need lives!"

"I know right!" Carlos agreed, but then he got a idea, "hey, Riley, you're an awesome cook, right?"

"I like to think so," Riley asked, not quite sure where this was going.

"You should teach me!" Carlos excitedly said as he ran to the kitchen and grabbed an apron and chef's hat.

"Um, okay, why do you want to learn to cook all of the sudden?" Riley asked.

"I love to cook, but I don't really have a good variety of recipes and the guys always make fun of me for wanting to take a cooking class," Carlos said.

"Oh god," Riley said, "I hate that everyone is all like 'women belong in the kitchen! Make me a sammich, bitch!' first of all, it's super disrespectful to women, and second, what if a guy likes to cook? Everyone just calls him a woman. Society sucks."

"I know!" Carlos said.

"So, what do you want to cook?" Riley asked as he put on an apron.

"Umm, I don't know..." Carlos said. They two boys talked for a while and decided to make macaroons, donuts, Riley's special organic turkey burgers, and homemade corndogs. However, they didn't have any of the ingredients they needed, so they went to make a quick stop at the grocery store. On their way back, though, they ran into the Jennifers, who were standing right in their way.

"Yeah yeah," Riley said, trying to get past them, "you don't want to go out with me. Can you please get out of the way?" Carlos and Riley tried to walk past the three girls, but they kept on stepping in the way.

"Actually," the brunette Jennifer said, "we want to talk to you, Riley."

"Why?" Riley asked with no desire to talk to them.

"We think you're cute," the blonde Jennifer said. Carlos dropped his bags in shock while Riley just looked annoyed.

"And we were wondering which one of us you wanted to go out with," the curly haired Jennifer said. Carlos smiled and started poking Riley.

"None," Riley said bluntly, "now if you'll excuse me, I have some macaroons to make." Carlos looked disappointed.

"Umm, you can't just do that," the blonde Jennifer said, grabbing his wrist so he couldn't walk away.

"Yeah, we're the Jennifers, no one just says no to us," the brunette Jennifer said.

"Well I just did," Riley said, escaping Jennifer's grip.

"Well, why not!" the curly haired Jennifer whined.

"Because you guys are mean, and I don't really want to be in a relationship right now. In case you haven't noticed, I'm kind of trying to be in a successful singing group, and that's taking up most of my time," Riley said. Carlos just continued to watch the scene in shock.

"Oh Please," the blonde Jennifer said, "we not looking for a relationship, we just want to know which one of us you'd make out with." Carlos' jaw dropped to the floor.

"As I said before: None," Riley said, getting incredibly annoyed.

"I'll make out with any of you!" Carlos jumped in.

"Carlos, no," Riley said, "you're better than this. Let's go upstairs and I'll teach you how to cook." Riley dragged Carlos away as he screamed, "I LOVE YOU JENNIFER!"

"Dude!" Carlos yelled when the elevator door closed, "Do you realize how hard it is to get the Jennifers to notice you? And they just walked up to you on a silver platter, and you said no!" Carlos smacked Riley upside the head.

"Ow!" Riley rubbed his head, "Believe me, you don't want to get caught up in that mess."

"YES I DO!" Carlos whined, "Why would you say no to them?"

"Someday you'll understand," Riley said.

"Oh great," Carlos said as he crossed his arms, "is this one of those, 'when you're older, you'll understand' teachable moments Logan always throws at me?"

"Sure," Riley said as they got out of the elevator on their floor. While Carlos was visibly angry, once they started to cook, he got over it.

About an hour and a half passed, and the two smaller boys were laying on the couch.

"So. Full!" Carlos yelled out.

"Oh my god!" Riley said, "Eating all that was NOT a good idea!"

"If my stomach explodes and my guts splatter all over the wall, tell Ms. Knight I'm sorry for making a mess," Carlos said.

"I would, but mine might explode too," Riley said. Logan then walked in and noticed his friends looking sickly.

"Oh my," Logan said as he grabbed a thermometer, assuming they had food poisoning or something, "what did you guys eat?"

"Everything," Carlos and Riley moaned back.

"What?" Logan asked.

"I taught Carlos how to make macaroons, donuts, turkey burgers and corndogs, and we made extra for you guys, but we ate them all," Riley said right before he rolled over in pain, thinking about all that food.

"Logan!" Carlos said, dramatically flopping towards Logan and grabbing his hand, "if I die tonight, tell my parents I love them."

"Sure," Logan said, wiping the flour off his hand.

"Hey guys!" Kendall cheerfully yelled as he walked through the door, "I just had the best night!" the blonde plopped down on the couch.

"First, we had a nice picnic in the park," Kendall started. Riley and Carlos groaned at the thought of food, "then we just laid down and looked at the stars," Kendall continued, not caring about the obvious pain the two were in.

"Isn't that what you and Jo do, like, every night?" Logan asked as he cleaned up the mess in the kitchen.

"Well, yeah," Kendall said, "but it was still fun." James then busted through the front door.

"RILEY!" he screamed, "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!"

"A lot of things," Riley said, "what's your problem?"

"The Jennifers told me what happened earlier tonight!" James responded.

"Yeah, so?" Riley asked, not concerned with anything other than the fact that his stomach was about to explode.

"What happened earlier tonight?" Logan asked.

"The Jennifers practically threw themselves at Riley, and he said no!" James answered.

"What?" Kendall asked, shocked.

"I know!" James screamed, "Nobody says no to the Jennifers!"

"Well I did," Riley says, getting annoyed. James paused for a second, then startled everyone by screaming, "WHY?"

"Because I don't like the Jennifers," Riley responded.

"WHY?" James repeated.

"Because they're always so mean to everyone at the Plamwoods, and they think they're so great, and they're just annoying," Riley said.

"I can't even..." James said, shaking his head, "I gotta go to bed, I can't process this right now," and he walked into his room.

"Did that really happen?" Logan asked.

"Yeah," Carlos said, "I was there, it was like we were in the Twilight Zone or something."

"I can't believe that happened," Kendall said, "the Jennifers never throw themselves at anyone. Oh damn, because you said no to them, they're probably gonna be pissed. You better watch your back."

"Eh," Riley shrugged, "what's the worst they could do?"

After a while, Ms. Knight and Katie got home and went straight to bed, Logan and Kendall fell asleep, Carlos crawled his way into his bedroom, and Riley made his "couch" bed and fell asleep, planning on never eating ever again.

For a week, everything was routine, Riley would wake up before everyone else, Kendall would run off to see Jo, Logan and Camille would break up and then get back together within the hour, James would help Carlos with his "bad boy" look, but eventually Carlos dropped it because the boots he had to wear were too heavy and he wasn't allowed to wear his helmet, the Jennifers would glare at Riley whenever they saw him, Big Time Rush recorded their new song and Riley owned the bridge, and then Riley would go to sleep after everyone else. However, this all changed one fateful morning.

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><p><strong>Whaaaat? What's gonna happen? No one knows, but there <span>are<span> various clues in each chapter. I'm gonna start writing it right after I post this, so it shouldn't be too long before the next chapter is up.**


	12. Big Time Discovery

**Would this be the second post of the day? Or did I post Big Time Cooking yesterday? I don't know, I took an awesome nap today, so I'm kind of messed up on times. Anyway, I'm a little worried that things go a little too fast here, but it's kind of supposed to be a fast paced situation. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

><p>Logan wandered out of his room, Carlos, James, Kendall, Ms. Knight and Katie were already up and eating breakfast. He sat down at the table and was handed a bowl of cereal by Ms. Knight.<p>

"Where's Riley?" he asked looking around. Riley was usually always up and ready to go before anyone else even thought about getting out of bed.

"I decided to give him a break," Ms. Knight said, "he's always waking up so early, and he worked so hard yesterday, so I turned off his alarm." Logan looked over at the couch. It was covered in blankets, and he couldn't even see Riley under them, just a lump.

"I suppose that's for the best," Logan said, "he's been doing nothing but practicing the bridge nonstop."

"I know!" Carlos said, "but I have to admit, he was pretty great recording yesterday."

-flashback-

The five boys were in the recording box at Rocque Records. Kendall sang the first verse with as much enthusiasm as ever, Carlos and James handled the chorus like nobody's business, Logan sang the crap out of the second verse, but when the bridge came along, Riley paused.

"What is it now?" Gustavo yelled as he took off his headphones.

"Sorry, I'm just a little nervous," Riley said.

"Well get your shit together and sing the damn bridge!" Gustavo told him sternly.

"Okay, okay, I got this, I got this," Riley said, mostly to himself. The music turned back on and Riley whispered his part.

"Don't do that," Gustavo said, trying to be more understanding.

"Dude," Kendall said to Riley, "you've been practicing this all week. Just sing it the way you always do, you sound great." Riley sighed and said, "Okay, one more time." Gustavo played the music and Riley finally got it right.

"That was good," Gustavo said, "now lets do that about eight more times."

-end flashback-

"It's weird," James said, "We've never actually seen him asleep. I thought he was a vampire for a second." Carlos fell back in his chair from excitement.

"ME TOO!" he yelled as he got back up, "Doesn't it make so much sense? I mean, he doesn't sleep, he didn't want to go out with the Jennifers because he's worried he'll hurt them. IT'S JUST LIKE BELLA AND EDWARD!"

"Shhhhh!" Katie said, "you'll wake him up!" It was too late though, while everyone's back was turned at the kitchen, they heard a rustle of blankets and the bathroom door slam shut.

"Umm, what was that?" Kendall asked.

"I think Riley's in the bathroom," James said as he walked towards the bathroom door.

"Riley?" Ms. Knight asked through the door, "are you in there?"

"Yes," someone responded from the other side.

"What are you doing?" Carlos asked.

"Well that's a gross question," James said.

"I'm just... umm...brushing my hair?" Riley responded.

"Why were you in such a rush to run to the bathroom and brush your hair?" Katie asked.

"Hey guys!" James said, "Don't underestimate someone's need to brush their hair. Don't worry, Riley, I support you!"

"Thanks," Riley said, still through the door.

"Can you hurry up though?" Carlos said, "I gotta pee."

"Yeah, sure, just give me a few more minutes," Riley said, but then the cabinet under the sink slammed and everyone heard Riley say, "SHIT! Um, sorry, I'll be a little longer."

"What's wrong?" Katie asked.

"Is everything okay in there?" Ms. Knight asked.

"Yeah," Riley said from the other side, "don't come in, I've...I've got everything under control."

"Alright," Logan said, "that's it, something weird is going on here." He then swung open the door to see a girl in a tank top and pajama pants. Everyone looked at her, stunned, for a few seconds, until Carlos broke the silence.

"Hi Harper!" he said excitedly and waved, "Remember me? I'm Carlos!" Harper sighed.

"Yeah, I remember you," she said.

"Okay," Kendall said, "so you're Harper?"

"Yes," the strange girl in the bathroom responded, looking down.

"What are you doing here?" Katie asked.

"And where's Riley?" Ms. Knight said. Harper mumbled to herself, "I knew this day would come," then looked up at the group in the doorway and said, "Don't freak out, but Riley never existed." This just confused everyone even more.

"Wait," James said, trying to get a handle on the situation, "are we in the Twilight Zone or something?"

"No," Harper said, "it's always been a dream of mine to join a boy band, so I made up a character, Riley, and auditioned for BTR, and got the part." Everybody looked shocked. "And now I'm here," Harper finished. Before anyone could say anything else, James ran up to Harper and hugged her.

"It must've been so hard for you to be in love with me, but not be able to say anything because I thought you were a guy," James said as he squeezed the poor girl.

"Yeah, it was really brutal," Harper said sarcastically.

"That explains so much!" Kendall said, "Like why you have Harper's, or should I say, your, license."

"Or why you can never get your stories straight when talking about having a twin sister," Kendall continued.

"Or your amazing skill at putting on makeup!" James added.

"Or why you turned the Jennifers down!" Carlos realized.

"Yep," Harper shrugged.

"I can't believe we fell for it for this long," Logan said.

"Well, you can just add 'acting' to the list of things I'm amazing at," Harper said, "I would've gotten away with it if I put my wig where it belongs, under the sink, last night, but I guess I forgot."

"Wait," Kendall stopped, "Gustavo's gonna kill you when he finds out."

"He already knows," Harper said, "he's known since I auditioned."

"WHAT!" everyone screamed in unison.

"That's it!" Logan said, "We're talking to Gustavo about this right now!"

"Is that really necessary?" Harper asked.

"Yes it is!" they all screamed again. Kendall grabbed the keys to the minivan and James grabbed Harper and they drove to Rocque Records. When they got there, they ran upstairs, Harper still in tow, and bursted into Gustavo's office. When Gustavo and Kelly turned around, the four boys pointed to Harper and gave them a "why the hell didn't you tell us this?" look. Gustavo glanced at them and looked back at his phone.

"So you figured it out," he said, "someone owes me twenty bucks." Harper rolled her eyes and handed Gustavo a twenty dollar bill, the four other dogs looked confused.

"Gustavo bet me that I couldn't live with you for a month without you guys figuring it out," Harper answered the unasked question, "but the only reason they know is because my alarm didn't go off and I didn't have time to 'man up'" Harper then started giggling uncontrollably. Gustavo sighed, "That will NEVER be funny," he yelled at Harper.

"Yes it will!" Harper responded.

"Why are you guys so cool about this!" Kendall screamed, "Riley, the fifth member of Big Time Rush, a BOY band, is a GIRL!" The three other boys nodded in agreement.

"We've known since she auditioned," Kelly said, "she was dressed up as a boy, but the wig was really low quality and it was painfully obvious she was a girl, but she was the best performance we'd seen, so we hired her and a movie make up team to 'make a man out of her'" Kelly then began to giggle uncontrollably and Harper gave her a high five.

"How did you even do that?" Carlos asked.

"Well, they gave me a few high quality wigs and a bald cap to hide my hair, they also gave me a bunch of cool beanies that already had Riley's bangs built in, so I just had to put my hair in a bun and put the beanie on over it, that saved my life so many times!" Harper said, "They also gave me ace bandages to flatten out the chest area, and I learned how to act like a boy by observing them."

"Wait," Kendall paused and thought for a second, "you're like what happens when 'She's the Man' meets 'Hannah Montana'!"

"Basically," Gustavo said, "now can you dogs leave? I have to finish the next song on your album."

"Oooh, ooooh!" Carlos said as he excitedly raised his hand, "We should do a cover of 'Best of Both Worlds'! Because Harper is basically Hannah Montana!"

"No," Gustavo said and pushed the teenagers out of his office.

"There's still something I'm not clear on," James said in the car.

"What?" Harper asked.

"Why didn't you just join a girl band?" James asked.

"Because girl bands aren't the same as boy bands," Harper answered, "boy bands are fun and jumpy with cool dance moves, while girl bands are always slutty and everyone just ends up wearing fishnets and pole dancing in the end."

"That's kind of true," Logan said.

"It's just so weird," Carlos said, still unable to believe that the boy he's known for months is actually a girl, "but I can't wait for when we tell the Jennifers that they tried to hit on a GIRL!" Carlos and James cracked up and high fived.

"No!" Harper interrupted, "You guys can't tell anyone! That would ruin the whole thing!"

"But..." James said.

"No!" Harper answered.

"Okay," James and Carlos said, crossing their arms and slouching in their chairs.

"But I can tell Jo, right?" Kendall asked.

"What did I just say?" Harper said, "you guys aren't telling anyone!"

"But I tell Jo everything!" Kendall argued.

"And this is one thing you won't be telling her," Harper ordered.

When they got home, Harper explained everything to Ms. Knight and Katie, who were more okay with it than the boys were. As Harper grabbed her bald cap, wig and ace bandages from one of her boxes, Kendall asked her a few more questions, "Wait, so do you or do you not have a scar in the shape of a penis on your torso?"

"I do not," Harper said, "that story I made up beforehand."

"Okay, and you don't have a twin. At all." Kendall asked.

"No, I'm an only child," Harper answered as she tucked her curly hair into the cap and put the brown wig on. Kendall then came to a shocking realization. "Oh my God!" he screamed, "when we play hockey, I practically beat you up! Oh my God! I beat up a girl! I'm an awful human being! Your teeth fell out once!" Kendall started pulling at his hair.

"It's fine," Harper said, "just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't handle playing hockey with you guys, I've gotten better at it, haven't I?"

"I guess you have," Kendall said, before he knew it, the girl who was standing in front of him disappeared and showed up again as a boy.

"Woah," he said, "it's weird how different you look, but still strangely similar. Your eyes changed color though, weren't they brown a few minutes ago?"

"Yep, I got colored contacts, so it would be harder for people who've seen both of me to make the connection. Now c'mon, let's go get us some fro-yo!" Harper said as she walked out of the door. The four boys followed, wondering if they'd ever get used to it.

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><p><strong>I'm not quite sure how I'm going to address Harper when she's dressed up as Riley. I want it to be clear when she's Harper and when she's Riley, but I don't exactly want to say "and Riley said this and Riley said that". Whatever, I'll deal with that soon, just not now.<strong>

**But anyway, big surprise right? I hope so. I wanted to add little clues along the way without making it super obvious. I'm kind of worried about what people think about this plot twist. I planned this from the moment I started writing this fanfiction, but I'm not sure if it will get a positive reaction...**


	13. Big Time Wingwoman

**Sorry this one took me so long, but I think the reviews I get are directly linked to my motivation to write this. I'm not begging for reviews or anything. Just, if you want these to come out faster than this one, hit up that review button. I like this one because Harper has a little more personality than she did before they found out. This is also my longest chapter because I wanted to put a lot in, but I think it works. Tell me what you think!**

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><p>The five teenagers were sitting at a small table in the corner of a quaint frozen yogurt store.<p>

"Dude, who orders THAT?" Kendall asked Logan, referring to the pink swirly yogurt with butterfly shaped sprinkles he had ordered.

"It's really good!" Logan defended himself.

"With a dessert like that," James said, "people might start to think that YOU'RE the girl pretending to be a boy." Harper quickly shushed him.

"I don't think you guys understand the meaning of a secret," she whispered as she looked around to see if anyone was listening.

"Whatever," Logan said, "but Kendall, what kind of person just orders plain vanilla?"

"Hey," Kendall said, "I know what I like! And vanilla happens to be the best. It's not showy like the all the other flavors."

"Yeah," Harper said, "but it's boring."

"Well, vanilla is the best flavor to dip corndogs in," Carlos said. The four others just stared at him.

"What?" Carlos asked as he pulled a corndog out of his pocket and dipped it into Kendall's yogurt.

"Eww, you got corndog debris in my yogurt!" Kendall yelled.

"Uh, you're welcome," Carlos said. As Kendall scooped the corndog out of his dessert, a group of teenage girls walked up to them.

"OMG!" one of them exclaimed, "you're Big Time Rush!"

"Yes we are," James said.

"This is so awesome!" another girl said, "we LOVE you guys."

"Thanks," Logan said, "we really appreciate your support."

"I can't believe it!" another said, "you're all here! Even Riley!"

"Yep," Carlos said, nervously, "that's Riley, Riley Nichols, a boy." Harper kicked him under the table and he shut up.

"Well," a girl with a high pitched voice said to Harper, "you and I are gonna get married someday!"

James chuckled and said to himself, "I don't think that's legal yet."

"What?" the girl asked. Harper glared at James and said, "He means that we're both minors... Yeah... Minors can't get married... so..."

"...Okay?" the first girl said, "Can we get a picture?"

When the teenagers got home, Harper was upset.

"Can you be more obvious!" she asked as she hit Carlos upside the head.

"Ohmigod!" Carlos said as he rubbed his head, "I'm sorry, I'm just not that good at making up stories!"

"But you were a genius when you made up that story about the lady that poured water on James and hit you in the head with a tennis racket," Kendall said, kind of sarcastically.

"Wait, what?" James asked.

"Nothing!" Carlos said, he then turned to Harper, "Look, I'm just not used to this whole, 'Riley Nichols is actually a girl' thing. Once I get used to it, I'm sure I'll be more normal."

"You better," Harper said, "and James: keep your snarky comments to yourself!"

"Okay, Okay," James said, "but I gotta ask. Are you...lesbian?" James whispered the last word.

Harper rolled her eyes, "Okay, one: 'lesbian' is not a bad word. Two: no, I am not."

"Are you sure?" James asked, "Because there's got to be another reason you're doing this. I mean, soon enough, chicks will be all over you."

"Trust me, there's not, I'm straight. The whole 'fangirl' thing is actually pretty weird from my side." Harper said.

"Well," James said as he shrugged, "if you wanted to experiment, I'd be okay with that."

"You're disgusting," Kendall said as everyone agreed.

Two weeks later, after the band had recorded two more songs and learned choreography, they were tired out and needed a break. Everyone had almost gotten used to the Harper/Riley situation, and everything was normal, for them at least. Down in the lobby, Carlos was standing around awkwardly wearing a black bandana, a leather jacket, a studded belt, black jeans and the heaviest boots he's ever worn. All we was doing was just standing around, until James ran up to him in a tree hat.

"No, no, no, no!" James yelled, "You need to stand like this!" James demonstrated the perfect "bad boy" pose for his romantically challenged friend. James then ran away again, and watched Carlos with binoculars. Carlos tried the pose, but nothing happened. James ran up to him again and sighed, "Okay," he said, "watch the master." The taller boy then grabbed the bandana off Carlos' head, took his leather jacket, and made him take off his belt.

"You need to do it like THIS," James said as he got into position. Within seconds, at least four girls had approached him, shoving Carlos out of the way. When James wasn't looking, Carlos slowly trudged back to his apartment.

When he finally got up there, out of breath because of his giant boots, the only person in apartment 2J was Harper. She was wearing her pajamas, even though it was 3:00 in the afternoon, she just didn't feel like Riley-ing up, and she was reading a book at the dining table.

"What are you doing?" Carlos asked.

"Studying for the biology test we have tomorrow," Harper answered, not looking up.

"You take that crap seriously?" Carlos asked, "We only go to school here because it's the law, it doesn't really matter how well you do."

"Well, I'm not going to look this good forever, so It's nice to have a backup, like an education." Harper answered. Carlos sat down at the table, he stopped caring about what she was saying a while ago and was thinking about another topic.

"Hey," he said, "you're a girl, right?"

"I know it may not be that clear to you now," Harper answered, still not looking up, "but yes, I am a girl."

"Well then can you explain something to me?" Carlos asked.

"No, it's not that hard to pee sitting down," Harper said.

"No, that wasn't the question I was gonna ask, but, I mean, that's gotta be super inconvenien- No, back on the subject: Why is it that girls never want to talk to me, but fricken LOVE James? I mean, I'm lovable, right?" Carlos said, leaning back in his chair. Harper sighed and closed her book.

"Do you want the nice answer, or the honest answer?" Harper asked.

"Nice please!" Carlos said.

"Okay," Harper started, "you just need to find the right girl, she's out there somewhere, just keep being yourself! Does that work?" Carlos wasn't satisfied.

"Umm, I think I need the honest answer. I've heard that one too much," Carlos said hesitantly.

"Okay, here it is, straight up: James is a gorgeous, beautiful man." Harper said bluntly.

"What!" Carlos asked, almost falling back in his chair, "Do you...'like' him?"

"What? No! Of course not!" Harper said, "He's just really attractive, that's a fact. And if you're standing next to him while trying to hit on girls, they'll go to him first and not give a rat's ass about you. Especially if you just stand around looking mysterious. That does nothing." Carlos frowned.

"Are you saying I'm ugly?" Carlos asked.

"No. I did not say that. You're cute, but if you're just going to stand around and wait for girls to walk up to you, they're not going to notice you," Harper clarified.

"Okay," Carlos said, confused, "so what should I do?"

"Talk to them, just walk up to them and say words. Let your personality shine," Harper said as she did jazz hands.

"That was super cheesy," Carlos said.

"I know, but really, just talk to girls. You have a great personality, you're cute, you're talented. You have the whole package, you just need to use it." Harper said.

Carlos started laughing and said, "Oh I'll use my package alright!"

"Shut up," Harper said, not surprised at all at the boy's immaturity. Carlos got up and walked to his room to change, before he closed the door, he turned towards Harper and asked, "You think I'm cute?" with what he thought was a seductive face.

"Don't let it go to your head," Harper replied, getting back to studying. About an hour later, everyone was back in the apartment and they got a video chat request from Gustavo.

"What is it you want this time, Gustavo?" Kendall asked the computer.

"DOGS!" Gustavo's voice beamed through the speakers of Kendall's laptop, "You need to be more social."

"What does that mean?" Logan asked.

"Well, half of what makes celebrities famous is the paparazzis, and I haven't seen you guys on TMZ, like, ever," Gustavo said.

"Okay then," Logan said, "do we just go hunting down paparazzis and make them take our picture?"

"No," Gustavo answered, "you will all go to the new under 21 club that opened recently. All the teen stars hang out there."

"Woah, back your shit up," Harper said, "those things actually exist?"

"Of course they do," James said, "why wouldn't they?"

"I just thought teen clubs were invented by screenplay writers so they can put their teenage characters in a more mature setting so the show doesn't seem so childish," Harper said, still confused.

"Well now's your chance to see one in real life!" Gustavo said, obviously sarcastically.

"Do we have to go?" Logan asked, "I have a lot of studying to do."

"Yeah," Kendall said, "I have plans with Jo." Gustavo sighed and said, "Kendall, bring Jo along, she'll attract more publicity, and Logan, STOP BEING SUCH A NERD!"

"Hurtful," Logan said.

"I don't care," Gustavo said, "just go and stand around and look pretty. And if you get in a fist fight with Dak Zevon while you're there and it's all over the tabloids tomorrow, even better."

"Ugh!" Carlos exclaimed, "Sometimes, I can't stand Gustavo!"

"Naw man," Harper said as she put one of her beanies on, "you're going to talk to a girl tonight, and then you'll ask her out, and then she'll say yes."

"Psh," James laughed, "like that'll happen. Carlos can barely talk to a girl without making her file a restraining order. What makes you think this will be any different?"

"Hey!" Harper yelled at James, "Don't be mean!"

"Well," Logan shrugged, "it is a little true. He's had a couple restraining orders filed against him."

"Yeah," Kendall said, "Jo and I tried to get him a girlfriend. He said the words, 'When do we mouth kiss?' and then burped, and then talked about his rash."

"That's because you guys are terrible wingmen," Harper confidently said, "I'll wingman him this time." The boys just laughed.

"I'm sorry Harper," James said, "but you can't be a wingman."

"Why not?" she asked, getting incredibly annoyed.

"Well..." Kendall said, "look at the second half of the word. You're a woman, and can't be a wingMAN." This time it was Harper's turn to laugh.

"You clearly know nothing about girls!" she stated as she went to the bathroom to change.

The four boys, Harper dressed as Riley, and Jo all stepped up to the new club.

"Oh my God!" Harper yelled, "there's like a bouncer and everything! Is this real life?"

"Yeah, Riley," Jo said, "it's actually pretty lame, but everyone pretends it's really cool so they'll be considered cool."

"I fricken love L.A. and how ridiculously paradoxical it is!" Harper exclaimed. Kendall rolled his eyes and stated, "Let's just get this over with. There's already a bunch of paparazzis outside, we'll let them take some pictures, go inside for an hour, then leave."

"Alright, GO TEAM!" Carlos yelled. Instead of waiting in line forever, the group just walked up to the bouncer and he let them all straight in, except Harper.

"Umm," she said, "I'm with them."

"Not anymore," the giant man behind the rope responded.

"Do you know who I am?" Harper asked, the man shook his head, "I'm Riley Nichols: the newest member of Big Time Rush. Now if you would please let me get in there." The bouncer wasn't phased. Harper felt like giving up, until the rest of her band come back out when they realized she wasn't with them.

"Bro," James said to the bouncer, "he's legitimately BTR's newest member, you can ask them." He gestured towards the group of men flashing their cameras screaming, "Riley, Riley, turn around!" The tall man finally agreed to let the "boy" who he thought was Riley Nichols in.

"Thank you," she said angrily as she walked through the doors.

When she walked in, the club was incredibly dark, with only colorful lights flashing everywhere. There were people around her age, most a little older though, she even spotted a few celebrities, but refrained from freaking out. She was gettin' down on the dance floor like a goon when Carlos pulled her aside.

"Okay, 'Riley'" he said, "how are you going to get me a date?"

"Patience, my friend, patience. Have you talked to anyone yet?" She asked.

"Well, I tried to talk to that girl, but she just ignored me," he answered, pointing to a girl with long black hair wearing a black dress.

"Perfect!" she said, "I'll be right back." Harper then ran away and disappeared.

"Why is she such a spaz?" James asked as he walked up behind Carlos.

"I don't know, but I hope she has some master wingwoman plan," Carlos said. James shrugged and said, "Hm, well, I'm gonna go dance with this girl, good luck."

A few minutes later, Carlos saw Harper again, but she was dressed as Harper, not Riley like she was supposed to.

"What are you doing?" he whisper yelled, "What if someone see's you, what if Jo recognizes you?"

"Please, do you see this lighting? Oh wait, you don't because there is no lighting in this building," Harper explained.

"But... How did you even get that outfit?" Carlos asked, referring to the purple dress she was wearing.

"It was in my car, I ran out the fire exit, changed, then ran back in," she said, "now, look really bored for a few seconds, then walk away, but stay within eyesight, okay?" Without saying anything, Carlos put a stoic face on, rolled his eyes, and walked away. Harper then casually walked up next to the girl Carlos pointed out to her.

"Oh my god!" she said to the girl, "Do you know who that is?"

"Umm," the girl said, "he kind of looks like Carlos from Big Time Rush."

"You're damn right he does!" Harper exclaimed, "I am soooo in love with him! But he only dates, or even talks to, celebrities; I mean, I guess unless he thought a girl was really hot or something."

"Really?" the girl said, "because I think he came up to me earlier tonight." Harper gasped, "Well he's mine," She said in a sassy tone. The girl made a judgemental face, smirked and said, "We'll see about that," right before she make a beeline towards made a shocked face, then smirked at Carlos once the girl's back was towards her. As she watched the two talk for a while, she jumped a foot in the air when she felt someone put their hand on her shoulder. She turned around in shock and saw Logan.

"Dude!" she yelled, "don't scare me like that! That's how people get raped!"

"Someone tapping their friend on the shoulder is how people get raped?" Logan asked, but then changed the subject, "Look, that was some creative genius going on there."

"If you knew anything about girls, the one thing that makes a guy the most irresistible is when another girl is after him. It doesn't take a creative genius to figure that out," Harper said.

"Okay, whatever," Logan said, Harper was surprised he didn't go into a lecture about the mating habits of chimps, pleasantly surprised, but still surprised, "can you just do that for me?"

"What about Camille?" Harper asked, concerned. Even though she wasn't as close with Camille as she was with Jo and the boys, she still didn't want to help Logan cheat on her.

"We broke up," Logan answered.

"But you guys break up, like, everyday and then get back together the next," Harper said.

"No, I think this one was for real this time," Logan said, "we haven't hung out for a week, and now she practices her auditions with James and Kendall and not me."

"Oooh, that does sound bad," Harper said sympathetically, "but I don't think you should rebound just yet." Harper turned around and tried to get back to her car so she could change back into Riley, but James stopped her.

"What kind of witchcraft did you do on that poor girl?" he yelled.

"Nothing!" Harper yelled back, "Believe it or not, Carlos can get a quality girl without your help, which never actually worked anyway."

"Okay," James said, "but can you just use your witchcraft on the little blond number in the back for me?" he pointed to a petite blond girl in a yellow shirt and a black skirt.

"No!" Harper said, "What I did for Carlos was a one time and one time only thing, if you'll excuse me, I need to become a boy again before anyone looks at me too closely." She shoved James out of the way and changed into Riley in her car.

Meanwhile, Jo and Kendall were observing the spectacle happening before them. A girl was flirting with Carlos. Hard.

"You did say that Riley was going to be his wingman tonight, right?" Jo asked Kendall.

"Yep," Kendall said.

"So what did he do what we couldn't?" she asked, frustrated.

"I don't know..." Kendall said.

After spending an hour in a half in that noisy club, the six finally got out of there. On their way out, they posed for a few pictures, then they got into Riley's car and drove home. Before Carlos could walk up to apartment 2J with his roommates, Jo stopped him.

"Did you get that girl's number?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said, showing her the seven real digits of a real girl's phone number, "her name's Elizabeth."

"So when do you think you're gonna call her? Don't wait three days though, the three days rule sucks and girls hate it," Jo said.

"Actually," Carlos shrugged, "I don't think I will call her."

"Why not?" Jo asked.

"I don't know," he said.

"I think I know!" Jo said, "Before you talked to that girl, I saw you talking to a different one." Carlos looked confused.

"A certain girl in a purple dress?" Jo said, "I couldn't see her that well, but you two did have a lot of chemistry. Is she why you don't want to call Elizabeth?" Carlos blushed and said, "Maybe a little."

"Okay then," Jo said, "but don't blow it. She seemed nice," and walked up to her room. Carlos thought for a second, smiled, then started walking up the stairs.

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><p><strong>I may change my mind with the whole HarperCarlos thing. I haven't quite decided if I want her to be with any of the boys. But if I decide to pair her up with someone, it will definitely be Carlos. But I would like to hear your opinions too.**


	14. Big Time Fixing Relationships

**I don't know about this one, when I finished it, I didn't feel like it was done, but I also didn't feel like there was any more to add. If you don't like it, I apologize, the next one will hopefully be better.**

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><p>Harper walked out of Kendall's and Logan's room wearing Kendall's favorite flannel.<p>

"Hey!" Kendall said, noticing what she was wearing, "That's mine!"

"I know," she responded calmly, "but I don't have anything that matches this beanie, and I really like this beanie!"

"I don't care!" He yelled, "give it back!"

"Fine!" Harper yelled back, "after you go shopping with me!"

"No way! Shopping is soooo boring!" Kendall said, "Why can't you just go shopping by yourself?"

"Because it's physically impossible for a girl to go shopping by herself," Harper said.

"But you're a boy most of the time!" Kendal responded.

"Well, if I can't get some more clothes, I'll just have to use yours, I would take Logan's or Carlos' because they're more my size, but Logan's clothes are a little too nerdy for my taste and Carlos' have mysterious stains," Harper said. Kendall just sighed and said, "Fine, wear my clothes, just don't get anything on that flannel, okay?"

"I won't," she promised, "now, I'm gonna go downstairs and see what James meant when he texted me: 'Yo gurrrrl! imma need u down here'." Harper walked down to the pool to find James in a tree hat staring at the Jennifers.

"You know," Harper said, "wearing a bunch of leaves on your head doesn't make you invisible."

"Shhhhhhhh!" James hissed and pulled her down behind the bushes , "I need you to use your witchcraft on the Jennifers for me."

"No," Harper said sternly.

"But whyyyyy!" James whined.

"I can't keep changing in and out of Riley constantly, people are gonna know something's up," she answered, "is that all you wanted?"

"Yeah," James said grumpily.

"Ugh. I can't believe I stole Kendall's favorite flannel for this," Harper complained to herself.

"Well, if it's any consolation," James said, "it looks a lot better on you... or... Riley I guess."

"I know right?" Harper said right before she got out from behind the bushes. She was about to head back upstairs, but she noticed Camille and Jo talking at one of the tables and decided to say hi.

"Hey guys!" she said and then turned to Camille, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Camille said, "but we were just about to go shopping."

"Do you want to come with us?" Jo asked.

"Can I?" Harper asked, "I really need some new clothes. I only brought what I could fit in my tiny suitcase and I'm sick of Kendall getting all mad when I borrow his clothes." Jo and Camille tilted their heads and looked at Harper's shirt.

"Y'know, I shouldn't say this because Kendall's my boyfriend and all, but that shirt looks way better on you," Jo said.

"I know right!" Harper said, "I don't get why he just doesn't give me this shirt, he obviously doesn't know how to wear it right."

"Whatever," Camille said, "let's go."

After shopping for a while, Harper remembered what she needed to ask Camille.

"Hey, Camille," she said, "Logan told me that you two broke up. Is that true?" Camille shrugged, "I guess a little."

"Ugh! Camille!" Jo yelled, "Just give it up already!"

"Huh?" Harper asked.

"Camille's just freaking out because she's never been with a guy this long," Jo explained.

"Six months is too long for a relationship," Camille defended herself.

"Okay," Harper said, "but since you guys break up and get back together so much, if you were to only count the time you've been together, it would probably only be a few minutes."

"I know," Camille said, "but this is MY decision. Not yours."

"Okay, okay," Harper and Jo said, "we'll leave it alone." and the girls commenced shopping, even though two of them didn't realize the third was a girl.

When Harper walked through the door, the four boys were mindlessly watching a zombie movie that they'd seen at least fifty times already. She took off Kendall's flannel and threw it at the blonde's face.

"Here, you can have your shirt back, even though everyone knows I look better in it," she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"You went shopping?" Kendall asked, "but I thought it was physically impossible for girls to buy things by themselves."

"Yeah, that's why I went with Jo and Camille," Harper answered as she put on one of her new shirts. Once she mentioned Jo and Camille, Kendall and Logan perked up.

"What? Did Harper go shopping, or did Riley?" Kendall asked.

"Riley," Harper answered.

"Umm, I'm not sure if I'm okay with Riley going shopping with Jo. That's kind of like a boyfriend-girlfriend thing to do," Kendall said. Harper looked at him like he was in idiot.

"You do realize I'm not actually a boy," Harper said, very slowly so Kendall would understand.

"But SHE doesn't know that!" Kendall said, "What if she thinks she's cheating on me? And she's okay with it!" Harper rolled her eyes and put her hand on Kendall's shoulder.

"Jo is NOT trying to cheat on you," she said, "if anything, I'm her gay best friend. The kind of gay best friend that they tell everything to... Like why someone might break up with Logan..." She waited for Logan to catch on.

"What?" Logan screamed, "You know what's going on with Camille?" Harper nodded, "Well then, spill, dish, give me the scoop! What did I do wrong? I can change if she wants me to!" Logan said. Harper rolled her eyes and said, "She feels uncomfortable being in a relationship for this long, I'm sorry, but there's not really anything you can change." Logan looked disappointed and sulked back to the couch. Harper took pity on the poor boy and said, "but I'll be willing to help you out by using my 'witchcraft'." Logan regained hope.

"WHAT!" James screamed as he stood up and stomped toward Harper, "You'll use your magical powers on stupid Logan and Camille, but you won't help me out with the Jennifers?" Harper shrugged, "I guess maybe it's because Logan actually likes Camille, and you just want to make out with the Jennifers," she stated in an obvious tone.

"So what are you gonna do?" Logan asked, "Make her super jealous?"

"No," Harper answered, "I think I'll try a different approach this time, just go down to the pool and text me when you see Camille, but don't talk to her yet. Got it?"

"Got it!" Logan said as he scurried out of the door, excited to see Harper's magical powers in action. After he left, Kendall and James looked at each other, grabbed their tree hats, and ran out, saying something about witnessing how it worked. Harper changed into skinny jeans, a floral shirt and dark sunglasses. When she got the text from Logan, she grabbed one of James' tabloid magazines and headed down stairs. Once the door closed, the zombie movie ended and Carlos looked around.

"Umm... Is anybody in here?" he asked. No response, he shrugged and put in another movie.

When she got to the pool, Logan was sitting at a table, Camille was in a lounge chair across the pool from him, and James and Kendall were in the bushes right behind her. Harper sat down in a lounge chair next to Camille and started reading her magazine.

"I don't think this is working," Kendall whispered to James, "all she's doing is sitting next to her."

"Just wait," James said, "she's probably gathering the magical spirits." Kendall smacked the back of his head and continued watching.

After a while, Harper looked up at Logan, over exaggerated a gasp, turned to Camille and asked, "Is that Logan Mitchell?" Camille looked up, then back at her book and said "yes" very nonchalantly and a little annoyed.

"I am, like, his biggest fan!" Harper exclaimed.

"Well, why don't you just go make out with him already?" Camille said, a little sassily this time.

"Oh no!" Harper said, pretending to ignore Camille's tone, "I would never try to tear him away from his girlfriend," Camille looked up, "he talked a little bit about her in an interview, and he went on and on about how beautiful, talented, sweet, wonderful etc. she is, he really likes her and I would never try to break up something like that," Harper continued, "she's like, the luckiest person in the world." Camille smiled, "I think I'll just get his autograph," Harper said right before she got up and walked up to Logan.

"You're welcome," Harper said in a very cheery tone to Logan while holding a notepad and a pen, "now sign this so she just thinks I'm a fan." Logan looked over at Camille, who was watching the scene, signed the paper, and gave it back to Harper, who ran off right before Camille walked up to him and the two started talking.

Meanwhile, James and Kendall watched the entire conversation in awe.

"She's a genius," Kendall said while James just nodded.

Harper walked into apartment 2J only to be questioned by Carlos.

"Where did everyone go?" he asked.

"Oh, I just fixed a relationship," Harper said, "because of me, Logan and Camille are going to fall in love, get married and have beautiful babies. Harper Nichols: gettin' people pregnant." She then did a celebratory happy-dance.

"You're weird," Carlos said as James and Kendall walked in. Harper turned around and asked, "Well, am I awesome or what?"

"That's pretty impressive," Kendall said, "they talked for a little while, and then they started making out, and we felt creepy staring at them, so now we're here." James nodded in agreement.

"Aw man, what have I done?" Harper wailed, "there are children at that pool."

"Did I miss something?" Carlos asked, not quite sure what had happened.

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><p><strong>See? It doesn't feel like it should end yet, but it did! I don't know. I was gonna call this chapter, "Big Time Gettin' People Pregnant", but that would be a little misleading. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it! <strong>


	15. Big Time Tour, Thunder and Lies

**Wooot! Second one this weekend. I like this one a lot better than my last one. The plot line's movin' along. It's kind of hard to write this when I already have the end planned out perfectly. It makes me want to rush this, but I won't. Anyways, I hope you enjoy! Please tell me what you think!**

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><p>"Congratulations dogs!" Gustavo said as he handed each of them a CD with their faces on it, "We finally finished our second album!"<p>

"I think this calls for a celebratory jump hug!" Carlos exclaimed, spreading his arms with a goofy grin. The four other teenagers and Kelly joined with no hesitation, but Gustavo was more reluctant.

"I'm just not a 'huggy' person," he said with a disgusted face. The six laughed and pulled him in, until they noticed someone else there. They all turned around to see Griffin and the guy with the brief case. Harper jumped because she's never met him.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm the CEO of RCMCBT Globalnet Samiod, and I own you, Riley," he answered.

"Wait," she said, "I thought Gustavo owned us."

"Yes, he owns you, and I own him, therefore, by association, I own you," he answered.

"Wait, so if you're my boss, then how come I've never met you? I've been part of this band for almost six months, why haven't you come around until now?" Harper asked.

"Because I haven't felt the need to see you until now," he answered, getting annoyed, "I did not come here to get in a debate with a teenage boy."

"Why did you come here?" Kendall asked.

"I'm here to tell you about your new tour, starting next month," Griffin said, "it will be just like your last one, except you'll be promoting this new album, and that one will be there." He pointed to Harper. Who looked like she was going to pass out.

"Another tour?" James said excitedly, "Yes!" everyone had about the same reaction, except Harper.

"I don't know if I can do that," she muttered as she backed into the corner of the room and put the hood of her sweatshirt over her face.

"Not my problem," Griffin said as he and his assistant disappeared.

"Does he not know that Riley's a girl?" Logan asked Gustavo.

"No, I never got around to telling him, and now it's too late to tell him without getting him angry," Gustavo said, "besides, it's best if he doesn't kno-" Gustavo was cut off by Harper's dramatic wailing.

"I can't do this! I can't do this!" she yelled as everyone tried to comfort her.

"What the hell is your problem?" Gustavo asked, "you've performed plenty of times, and you're pretty great at it." This was a huge deal, Gustavo never complimented people.

"And you have a very solid fanbase now," Kendall said, "the ladies love you." This made Harper giggle.

"They love Riley, not me," she corrected, "It's just... Tours are for famous people." Everyone paused for a second.

"You ARE a famous person," James said.

"No I'm not! Famous people are robots created in a factory to be perfect! And when they malfunction, they get sent to 'rehab' to be repaired. And I don't think I'm a robot. I mean, to the public eye, I am a completely fake and made up human being, but I'm not a robot!"

"Do you even hear yourself?" Logan asked, "Celebrities are people too."

"Y'know what?" Carlos said, "That actually makes a lot of sense. That's why so many celebrities break down, because they don't get a chance to recharge enough. And that's why they look and sound perfect all the time! Guys! We're robots!" He and James then started doing the robot.

"Are we going to have to give you this talk about how talented you are and how you can handle anything every time you do something you're the slightest bit nervous about? Because so far, we've had to," Logan said, sick of having to deal with the emotional wreck that is Harper.

"You know what?" Harper said as she stood up, "I got this. I am a fricken robot sent from the future to be awesome! Let's go team!" She put her hands in the air and ran out of the building. She stopped once she got outside when she realized she was soaked. James and Carlos followed close behind, pretended to short circuit, and fell down once they got wet.

"Wow, it is really pouring out there," Kendall said as he opened his umbrella. He and Logan walked out, each carrying giant umbrellas, and dragged Carlos and James, who were still twitching from their "short circuit", to the car while Harper followed, rambling on about how she was a whole new person.

When they got home, Ms. Knight and Katie were watching the news for updates on the storm going on outside.

"Hey mom!" Kendall called out, "we're going on another tour!"

"That's great!" Ms. Knight said as she hugged each teenager living with her.

"Does that mean that you guys will leave, and I'll be here all alone?" Katie said.

"Yeah, sorry bud," Carlos said.

"But don't worry," Kendall said, "we'll Skype every day, okay?" Katie shrugged and continued watching the news.

"Are they saying anything about the storm?" Logan asked as he sat down next to Katie and turned the volume up.

"Yeah," she responded, "they say there might be thunder and lightning tonight." James gulped.

"Really?" Carlos asked, "cool! I love thunderstorms! They're so dramatic. I feel like I should be outside screaming in the rain during thunderstorms."

"Why screaming?" Kendall asked Carlos.

"I don't know," Carlos said, "maybe the love of my life just left me, or I just got fired. I haven't put that much depth in my character yet." Kendall nodded.

"Well," James said in an incredibly high and squeaky voice, "I'm gonna go to bed now."

"But it's only 6:00," Harper said, "we haven't even had dinner yet."

"And we're having dinosaur shaped chicken, your favorite!" Carlos added.

"I'm not hungry," James said quickly as he ran into his room.

"That was weird," Katie remarked, but then she changed the channel to Spongebob, and everyone gathered around the T.V.

It was the middle of the night, and Harper was in the lobby of the Palmwoods. It was pitch black, save for the flashes of lightning. At the entrance, she noticed a small figure facing away from her. She started to walk towards it. When she was a few feet away from it, it slowly turned around and a flash of lighting revealed what it was. It was a brown Furby with black spots. However, it didn't look like most Furbies. Instead of it's bright, happy eyes, there were just black holes. Harper turned around and ran, but before she could get in the elevator, it appeared in front of her, except it was bigger now, the size of a terrier. It stared her straight in the eyes and said, "You are going to fail." Harper turned around and headed for the stairs, when she almost made it to the door labeled, "Floor 2" the Furby appeared again, even bigger this time. It stared at her and said, "You'll never make it." She closed her eyes and screamed, and when she opened them again, it was gone. She opened the door to the second floor and started to run towards 2J. The hallway got longer the faster she ran, she would never make it. She looked behind her and saw the Furby, getting closer and bigger with every crash of thunder. She ran and ran, but she became extremely tired, cold and sweaty and couldn't move anymore. She looked up, and the Furby was right in front of her. It was about her hight this time and she could see into the dark abyss that took the place of its eyes. It looked at her with a blank expression, and said, "You are going to fail, and I am going to find you when you do." Just then, the loudest crack of thunder yet woke her up.

She jerked up, her bangs stuck to her forehead because of all the sweat and she tried to catch her breath. It was completely dark, not even the soft light from the electronics worked. The power must have been out. She looked over at the other end of the couch and realized she wasn't alone. She looked at the dark figure, and before she could scream, a flash of lightning showed her that it was James. His head was down, and he was clutching his knees. From the way he was shaking, she could tell he was crying.

"James?" she whispered softly, "James, what's wrong?" He didn't answer, but when he heard a large clap of thunder and yelped, she realized what the problem was.

"Are you scared of the thunder?" she asked, the tall boy just nodded, "is there anything I can do for you?" James looked up and wiped his eyes.

"Do you know how to make 'nana free'ers?" he asked weakly.

"Huh?" she asked.

"I guess normal people call them banana fritters," he said, "my nanny would make them for me whenever I got scared."

"Oh, banana fritters!" she realized, "I used to make those all the time. I think we have all the ingredients for them." she got up and grabbed some bananas and the pancake mix. when she turned around, she noticed a tall brunette standing behind her.

"You can go sit down," she said, "I got this." There was another flash of lightning and a roar of thunder, James squeaked and said, "I think I'll stay here." Harper shrugged and started mixing the batter. It was kind of annoying having James hovering over her and grabbing onto her whenever lightning struck, but she understood it. She would act the same way if someone brought a Furby into the room.

Soon enough, she had a plate of delicious looking banana fritters. She sat down on the couch and James closely followed like a lost puppy. When he sat down, she grabbed her comforter and pulled it over her and James, who immediately started nibbling on the fritters. It was weird seeing James, the most confidant and strongest of the five, acting so weak.

"Are you feeling better?" she asked.

"I guess a little," he muttered.

"Wait, just a second," Harper got up and ran into Kendall's and Logan's room. James sat in the dark for a while, but he felt better now that he had banana fritters. Somehow, they always made him feel better. Harper appeared a few moments later with Kendall's laptop.

"We should watch a movie until the storm blows over," Harper stated.

"But we have to rehearse for the tour early tomorrow morning," James said.

"So? It's not like YOU'RE going to get any sleep, I might as well stay up with you," Harper said, "now what movie do you want to watch?"

"I don't know," James said, "I think we only have scary movies, and I'm not in the mood for a scary movie."

"Don't worry. Katie, Ms. Knight and I have a stash of chick flicks under the DVD player," she reached under the DVD player and pulled out dozens of movies full of Katherine Heigl, Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. They decided to watch "She's the Man" because James found it hilarious to point out the similarities between Harper and Amanda Bynes' character. By the time the movie was over, the storm hadn't passed, but the lightning and thunder stopped, so James fell asleep on the other side of the couch, while Harper took her normal spot and drifted off into sleep.

James woke up to someone poking his face.

"Dude," Carlos said, "what are you doing on the couch?"

"Sleeping," James said as he pulled the blanket over his head.

"Okay," Carlos paused, "why are you sleeping on the couch?"

"Umm," James said as he glanced over at Harper, still fast asleep, "Harper was fricken terrified last night. I think the has thunder-a-phobia. She woke me up and made me make her banana fritters. She was all like, 'Oh no James! I'm so scared! Protect me!' and she made me sleep here." Carlos looked over to Harper, then back at James.

"Thunder-a-phobia huh?" Carlos said in a disappointed tone, "I wonder why she didn't wake me up..." he trailed off into his own thoughts.

"Who knows? Maybe she's in love with me," James shrugged as he got up.

"I don't know," Carlos said as he followed James into the kitchen, "that doesn't sound like Harper." James poured himself a bowl of cereal.

"Believe what you want," the tall brunette said, "but that's what happened." Harper got up and clumsily walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning guys," she mumbled.

"Good morning," they both said, dropping the subject. After Kendall and Logan got up and ate breakfast, the five teenagers got dressed and headed towards Roque Records.

"UGH!" Gustavo screamed, "YOU DOGS ARE IDIOTS!" They had been rehearsing for five hours with no breaks. For some reason, Kendall, James and Logan weren't getting the routine, while Carlos and Harper, the least experienced dancers in the group, had it down.

"You three!" Gustavo grumbled as he pointed to Kendall, James and Logan, "you will stay here until you get it perfectly." He then turned to Carlos and Harper, "other dog and pup, you can go home." Harper and Carlos cheered and high fived.

"So long suckaaaaaass!" Harper said as the three boys glared at her.

"That's how we do it!" Carlos called while backing out of the rehearsal room. On their way out, Harper turned to Carlos, "Is it weird that Gustavo still calls me 'pup'?" she asked.

"I guess," Carlos answered, "but you still are the pup, and you always will be."

"Damn," she said, "I was hoping I could shake that nickname." Carlos laughed and shook his head. They got into Harper's car and there was a silence. Carlos felt like he needed to say something.

"So... Thunder-a-phobia, huh?" he said, trying to be casual.

"I don't know what that means," Harper stated.

"James told me about last night," he said, expecting her to catch on.

"Really? I didn't think he would. I mean, it was pretty embarrassing for him," Harper said.

"Embarrassing for HIM?" Carlos questioned.

"Yeah, what did he tell you?" Harper asked, getting incredibly suspicious of a certain tall brunette.

"He said that you had thunder-a-phobia. And you woke him up and were all like, 'Oh no James! I'm so scared! Protect me!' and he made you banana fritters" Carlos said in a perfect reenactment of what James said earlier. Harper laughed.

"Is that what he told you?" she asked, Carlos nodded, "James is such a dirty liar."

"Huh?" Carlos asked.

"One: Thunder-a-phobia is not a real word. Two: James can't cook to save his life. And Three: it was James who..." Harper stopped and realized how embarrassing it would be if the boys found out about James' weakness, "woke up, I didn't have to wake him up myself... He heard me and came out."

"So you didn't go up to him and wake him up?" Carlos asked, Harper shook her head, "and you're not secretly in love with him?" Harper scoffed, "Did he really say that?"

"Yeah," Carlos said quietly.

"No," she said, "I am not in love with James."

"Okay, good," Carlos muttered, and the rest of the ride home consisted of Harper and Carlos belting the words to every Taylor Swift song they knew.

Three hours later, the three other band members stumbled through the door.

"I think I'm going to die," Kendall said.

"Tell me about it," James said.

"Did you finally perfect the routine?" Harper asked as she was stirring something in the kitchen.

"Yep, after eight agonizing hours, we finally got it down," Logan said. The three boys sat down at the dinner table and Carlos put a plate in front of each of them.

"We decided to make you guys dinner," Carlos said cheerfully. The three boys laughed and Kendall said, "Okay, wifey." Harper smacked him as she put a crab cake on each of their plates.

"Now," she said, "you can eat them the traditional way, or you can cut off a small piece, put in on this bread, and pour this sauce on it. I recommend it, it's really delicio-" she looked up and noticed each plate was already empty.

"Or you can just scarf it down like a bunch of animals," she mumbled to herself as the boys grabbed and ate any food they could get their hands on.

"Ugh! How are we ever going to be prepared for the tour?" Logan asked as in between bites of food.

"I'm sure we'll be ready, it's not like we've never performed before, and we've sang a few of the new songs at our concert already." Carlos said.

"But a month is not that long of a time," Kendall argued.

"C'mon," Harper said, "have faith in us. We'll be ready."

And before they knew it, they were.

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><p><strong>I kind of feel bad for making James seem like a jerk, but he would lie about that, he just would. B T dubs, that nightmare I wrote almost gave me nightmares, for realzies. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!<strong>


	16. Big Time Tour

**I don't know why this took me so long. I guess I've been pretty busy, or maybe I just don't like the way it turned out. Anyways, it's here now, so that's good. Enjoy!**

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><p>The five arrived back at the Palmwoods. It was the night before they were leaving on their tour, and they were exhausted.<p>

"Guys," Harper said, "we may need to postpone the tour, I'm going to need to sleep for at least nine weeks before I can function like a normal human being again."

"I know!" Carlos moaned as he flopped onto the couch, "Gustavo knows we have to be up early tomorrow. Why did he make us rehearse until 9:00?"

"He's the devil," James said with his face buried into a pillow on the couch.

"It's nine already?" Logan and Kendall screamed.

"Stop, stop, stop," Harper mumbled, "I can't even handle loud noises right now."

"Why are you two freaking out?" Carlos asked.

"We were supposed to meet up with Jo and Camille an hour and a half ago!" Kendall yelled as he ran into his room to change out of his sweaty clothes.

"Awwwww," James said, "you two kids are going on a double date?"

"Yes," Kendall and Logan responded as they ran out the door. The three sat in silence and all fell asleep on the couch.

Kendall and Logan nervously knocked on Camille's door, before they could prepare themselves, the door swung open and an excited brunette screamed, "LOGIE!" and jumped on the shorter of the two boys.

"Hey, Camille," Logan said, "nice to see you." Kendall walked past the dramatic couple sucking face and saw Jo sitting on the couch.

"Hey," he awkwardly waved, "sorry I didn't call you, Gustavo's a jerk and made us practice until nine with no breaks."

"It's cool," Jo said, not making eye contact.

"It's obviously not," Kendall said, "what's wrong?" Jo sighed.

"It's just," Jo paused, "Remember last time you went on tour? And you thought I was cheating on you with Jet, and you freaked out?" Kendall looked down, "Yeah, I guess so. What about it?"

"I just think maybe we should break up until you get back, just so there's no more confusion." Jo said.

"What?" Kendall asked, "why would we do that?"

"So you can hit on girls on your tour, and I won't be accused of cheating on you," Jo said.

"Why would we want that?" Kendall asked like it was the most ridiculous idea on the planet, "I don't want to hit on other girls. And we can call each other every day so, if you get a new love interest in New Town High, you can tell me before I freak out and jump to conclusions. Problem solved! Now let's go see a movie!"

Kendall and Logan got home in the middle of the night, they tiptoed quietly through the apartment, but stopped when they noticed the group of teenagers on the couch.

"Aww," Kendall said, "isn't that sweet?" he whispered as he look at James, Harper and Carlos cuddling on the couch.

"Just precious," Logan said. After taking a picture for blackmail, the two boys tiptoed into their room and went to sleep, although they were rudely awakened just a few hours later.

"Get up bitch," Harper said as Carlos and James ripped their covers off. Harper had developed a habit of calling people "bitch" it was her version of Hollywood fever. Not as bad as James', Carlos' or Logan's, but still mildly annoying.

"What time is it?" Logan asked, rubbing his eyes.

"6:30," Carlos said.

"That means we need to leave, NOW," James said.

"Okay," Logan and Kendall mumbled as they sluggishly got out of bed.

After the two got dressed, the entire gang wet down to the Palmwoods parking lot where a huge tour bus with the Big Time Rush logo was waiting for them.

"Oh my god!" Harper screamed, "this is so awesome!"

"Is that the same one we were in last time?" James asked Gustavo as he and Kelly arrived.

"Yeah, but we added an extra bunk for Harper," Kelly said. Kendall turned around and noticed two sleepy girls walking up to them.

"You guys didn't have to wake up for us," Kendall said.

"Yes we did, you guys will be gone for a long time! We had to say goodbye!" Jo said as she hugged him.

"Now don't let any girls on that bus, okay?" Jo said, " And we'll facetime everyday, right? I don't want you forgetting about me."

"I could never forget about you!" Kendall reassured her, although he gulped when she mentioned not letting any girls on the bus. They had their goodbye kiss, Carlos and James pried Logan and Camille apart, they said goodbye to Katie and Ms. Knight, and they loaded on their bus and took off.

A few minutes into the trip, Carlos gasped and stood up.

"This is the exact same bus we had last time, right?" he asked, incredibly excited.

"That's what Kelly said," Logan responded, not looking up from his phone. Carlos then started jumping up and down and reached under one of the mattresses. After reaching around for a while, he pulled out something fuzzy, green, disgusting, and on a stick. Kendall saw it and quickly stood up.

"Carlos, what is that?" he asked, concerned.

"It's a corn dog I left the last time we were in here!" Carlos excitedly said, incredibly pleased with himself.

"Carlos," Harper said, "do NOT eat that, you will get sick, throw up, and die."

"No I won't!" Carlos said.

"You probably won't die," Logan said, "but you will get sick and throw up, so put it down."

"Never!" Carlos screamed as he ran away and climbed up into an overhead cabinet.

"Carlos!" James screamed as he tried to pull him down, "You can't eat that."

"If there's one thing you need to know about me, "Carlos yelled back, "it's that I never let a corndog go to waste!"

"That's not even a corndog anymore, it's just fungus and dust bunnies," James responded.

"EVERY CORNDOG IS SPECIAL!" Carlos screamed in a very high pitched tone. Harper ran up holding a new corndog.

"Carlos, I have another corndog for you," she said. Carlos opened the cabinet in front of his face and poked his head out. He gazed at the new corndog and licked his lips.

"It's all yours if you give me that green one," Harper said. Carlos thought for a second and threw the green one away and swiped the new corndog out of Harper's hands.

"Where did you get that?" Kendall asked. Harper opened up Carlos's suitcase to reveal no clothes or toiletries, but at least fifty corndogs stuffed into it.

"Carlos!" Kendall screamed and startled the boy nibbling on his favorite food, "you didn't bring any clothes or anything?"

"I can just borrow your clothes," Carlos responded.

"Why does everyone assume they can wear my clothes!" Kendall screamed. Even though he was pretty angry, Kendall calmed down when Carlos promised to at least buy underwear the next time the bus stops.

And the tour began.

The next nine weeks were filled with screaming fans, fast food, cramped buses/hotel rooms, and Big Time Rush songs. Harper finally got the hang of performing in front of what felt like the entire world and the fact that girls were in love with her. The other boys finally got the hang of having a band member who's a girl and a boy, although it was still pretty weird, but Harper was officially one of the guys. Riley had an adequate amount of fans and was no longer ignored or told he was ruining the band. Everyone had accepted her. Riley, that is, Harper was just a slightly familiar face in the crowd to Riley's fans, and that was how it was supposed to be.


End file.
